London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Ukraine war: Refugee's daughter says there's a risk of riots at visa centre

Ukraine war: Refugee's daughter says there's a risk of riots at visa centre

The daughter of a Ukrainian refugee has warned of the anger and frustration of people waiting for visas at an "understaffed" UK application centre.

Marianne Kay from Yorkshire says if delays continue much longer "it does feel like there will be riots".

She has travelled to Rzeszow in Poland to help her 79-year-old mother Antonina Kolodii to safety in the UK.

People were gathering outside the centre in freezing temperatures from the early morning, she says.

MPs have criticised the Home Office for a slow response to the flight of more than two million people from Ukraine, saying those seeking sanctuary are being held up by bureaucracy or turned away.

About 500 visas have been granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme, with more than 10,000 people having applied to join relatives in the UK. A second visa route, requiring a British sponsor, is also being set up.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told broadcasters the "huge and very generous" visa programme could eventually help "hundreds of thousands" of refugees enter the UK.

The government has rejected the European Union's approach of a three-year residency without a visa, however, claiming officials had seen people in Calais with false documents claiming to be Ukrainian. Mr Johnson said: "To have a system of simply uncontrolled immigration isn't right."

In addition to long waits at visa centres, hundreds of Ukrainians are stuck in Calais trying to complete paperwork, with French authorities saying almost 300 Ukrainian refugees have been turned back by the UK Border Force, and repeating their criticism of the UK's "lack of humanity".

At the Rzeszow visa application centre, Marianne says the situation is "desperate" and tense, with people "shouting at each other all the time".

"It's quite clear that this place is understaffed quite severely so that there is absolutely no way that people who work here can process so many applications," she says.

Marianne left her job and children at home in Yorkshire on Friday to travel to Poland and help her mother get to the UK.

Amid conflicting advice about whether refugees should apply online or walk in to the centre, she was initially told the next available appointment was 14 March. But after waiting at the centre for two days, her mother's application was finally processed.

Now they will need to see if the application is approved and attend another visa centre in Warsaw before they can finally travel to the UK.

Marianne says there is no order or queuing system for visas, with many people waiting from the early morning


Tory MP Tracey Crouch said in the Commons that some people had been told there were no appointments until the end of April.

Marianne says crowds including elderly people and young children gather from the early morning, with some people left outside in freezing temperatures.

"It's really inappropriate to treat people who haven't slept for days and nights for a long time," she says.

"They have crossed the border in the cold, in the dark, in difficult conditions. And they can't cope with the situation very well."

She says she understands the need for security checks, but refugees have been grappling with contradictory advice.

"You can't tell people that they can apply for something and then make it completely impossible to do so and change rules every day," she says.

She adds that there is only one biometrics machine in Rzeszow. Other refugees have told the BBC they arrived in Lviv, western Ukraine, only to find the biometrics machine had been removed and the visa centre closed due to the increasing dangers of the war.

Two million people have fled Ukraine, the UNHCR says, mostly into neighbouring countries such as Poland and Romania


Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, Home Office minister Kevin Foster told MPs that a new visa processing centre would be established in the northern French city of Lille.

Ukrainians without their own transport will be allowed to travel on the Eurostar free to get to the Lille centre, as well as those in Paris and Brussels.

Mr Foster insisted ministers would "not take chances with the security of this country and our people" - citing the Salisbury Novichok attack in 2018 - where Russian nationals used a nerve agent in an attempt to murder the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

"A crucial part of the application process is providing biometrics so we can be sure applicants are who they say they are", he said.

Meanwhile, the government has created a new minister for refugees in the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Richard Harrington, who stood down as an MP in 2019, will be made a life peer.

Criticising the absence of Home Secretary Priti Patel in the Commons, Labour's Yvette Cooper called for visa centres to be established at all major travel points, on-the-spot security checks and for Ukrainians to be given emergency visas.

"The government should not be continuing to change this in a chaotic way, rather than opening the system properly," she added.

Ms Cooper criticised the apparent lack of clarity over the locations and operation of visa centres.

She said: "Yesterday the home secretary told the House twice that a visa centre en route to Calais has now been set up but it still doesn't exist.

"The foreign secretary just said it might be in Lille - nearly 72 miles from Calais.

"The Home Office said this morning that no decision had been taken. Well, which is it? Has it? Where is it? Can people get there yet?"

Downing Street said the Lille centre is expected to be set up "in the coming days".

A string of Conservative MPs joined opposition politicians in demanding further and faster action from the government in helping Ukrainian refugees enter the UK.

Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told LBC radio: "This is a big area of failure where I think we've misjudged the public mood."

Conservative Mark Harper, a former immigration minister, said even if security checks were needed, the government needed to "grip the pace of this" and called for a minister to set out the details of the humanitarian sponsorship route within days - not weeks or months.

Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke said the speed of response was a "disgrace".


Watch: Yvette Cooper calls for emergency visa centres for Ukrainians over UK's "chaotic" response


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×