London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

Ukraine: bombs and bureaucracy thwart couple’s quest for UK spousal visa

Ukraine: bombs and bureaucracy thwart couple’s quest for UK spousal visa

Visa red tape sent Fozan Dar and Ukrainian wife Iryna on fruitless 12-hour round-journey to Kyiv just as Russian bombs began to fall
A British man and his Ukrainian wife spent 12 hours shuttling between cities targeted by Russian bombs on Thursday in a desperate but failed bid to complete her biometric registration for a UK spousal visa.

Fozan and Iryna Dar left the central city of Dnipro, where they live, on a midnight train on Wednesday, in a last-ditch attempt to reach the processing centre in Kyiv. Soon after, the city’s airport closed and bombing began, there and in other cities.

Their train shuddered to a halt in a distant suburb of the Ukrainian capital as the city was hit by Russian airstrikes. Eventually, the couple decided to get off the train there, pay more for a taxi than they had for the train tickets, and head to the biometric registration centre.

When they got there, a handwritten sign on the door said: “Today we aren’t working, sorry for the inconvenience.” They called the embassy, who first said the centre was open, then said there was nothing they could do, as the collection of biometric data had been contracted out.

Iryna had originally applied for a UK visitor’s visa two days before the British embassy advised citizens to leave Ukraine, hoping to meet her husband’s extended family after Covid restrictions forced them to have a small wedding.

Because the embassy held her passport, the couple could not leave. Fozan studies medicine at a university that has already evacuated many of its international students, but he refused to go without his wife. “There is no way in hell I’m leaving her behind, it’s not up for debate. I have to protect her,” he said.

As the situation in Ukraine got more serious, the couple decided to switch their application and ask for a spousal visa.

Visitor visas cannot be used for more than six months. As warnings of invasion came, they feared it might not be possible to return to Dnipro for longer than that, and Iryna didn’t want to be in the UK on a restricted visa for an unknown period of time.

But the embassy kept her passport and told her that the biometric details collected for her visitor visa could not be used for her latest application, she said. After 10 days of increasingly desperate calls to a consular helpline, her passport was returned on Tuesday and they told to redo her biometric registration in Kyiv.

So they bought train tickets that would get them to the Ukrainian capital the first possible day: Thursday morning. “We were woken up on the train at 5am by friends calling, who said they were in hiding in the basement, and the shelling went on for over an hour,” Fozan said.

Despite those attacks, and fear of more violence, the couple have decided to return to Dnipro again, because it’s their home, they have family there, and they hope the university where Fozan studies might include them in any further evacuation.

As they waited for their train, the couple spent several hours as a kind of unofficial advice bureau to other foreigners milling around the station in desperation after tickets sold out.

“People noticed we were speaking English to each other, and I looked Ukrainian, so they asked us for help with things like reading the timetable,” she said.

The people they helped included Germans and Pakistanis and a man from Manchester who got trapped when his overnight layover coincided with Russia’s invasion, and his flight out of Kyiv was cancelled.
Comments

Fozan Bear 3 year ago
In my class there were five boys called Fozan which used to confuse the teacher ... Such a British name

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Political Dispute Escalates Between Trump and Musk
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
US Senate Votes to Remove AI Regulation Moratorium from Domestic Policy Bill
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
Jury Deliberations in Diddy Trial Yield Partial Verdict in Serious Criminal Charges
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
King Charles Plans Significant Role for Prince Harry in Coronation
Two Chinese Nationals Arrested for Espionage Activities Against U.S. Navy
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×