London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Ukraine war: UK grants only 50 Ukrainian refugee visas so far

Ukraine war: UK grants only 50 Ukrainian refugee visas so far

Fifty Ukrainians have been granted visas under a scheme for refugees with family links to the UK, the Home Office has announced.

It is about 1% of the 5,535 people who have applied since the programme launched 48 hours earlier.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was "doing everything possible" to speed up efforts to issue the travel permits.

The Ukrainian ambassador praised the UK effort but urged for the "maximum" number of people to be admitted.

The UK has steadily increased its visa offer to refugees from the Ukraine war, extending it to parents, grandparents and siblings as well as "immediate family" and extending the visas to three years.

But it has faced criticism that its scheme is less generous than the European Union's, while France accused the UK of a "lack of humanity", saying that 150 refugees were turned back at Calais for lacking a visa.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 200,000 Ukrainians would be eligible to travel to the UK as he extended the offer of visas to a wider range of family members.

As of 10:00 GMT on Sunday, the Home Office said 11,750 had begun applications online, while 5,535 had completed them.

It added that 2,368 had booked a visa appointment to submit their application and biometric information, while "around 50" visas had been granted.

Asked if it was acceptable that about 1% of applications had been granted in the first 48 hours of the scheme, Ms Patel said it was "the first scheme in the world that's up and running in this short period of time".

"This is an incredible scheme and we are doing everything possible, surging capacity across every single application centre across the EU," she said, adding that staff were being flown into Ukraine's border countries to speed up applications.

Ukraine's immediate neighbours have taken in the majority of the 1.5 million people estimated to have fled the war, with more than half of them arriving in Poland.

'Not turning people back'


France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote to Ms Patel on Saturday, saying that 400 Ukrainian refugees had arrived at Calais to cross the Channel, but 150 were sent back and told to obtain UK visas at embassies in Paris or Brussels.

Mr Darmanin said the response to people in distress was "completely unsuitable" and showed a "lack of humanity", calling for the UK to put consular staff at Calais to help Ukrainian refugees cross.

But Ms Patel said it was "wrong to say we are turning people back" and said the Home Office already has people working in Calais to support Ukrainian families.

Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, said that the visa process could be simplified, adding that any issues could be resolved later but right now the "maximum" number needed to be admitted.

He said any "bureaucratic nonsense" should be cleared away, although he said it was necessary to continue security checks.

But he said the UK was at the "forefront of the effort" to support Ukraine.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×