Alex Nichiporchik has criticised the Home Office’s handling of visas amid the refugee crisis in Ukraine.
(Picture: Marloes Chater Photography)The half Ukrainian CEO of a London-listed video game developer today slammed the Home Office for delays to his visa application that forced him to present the company’s annual results over Zoom.
Alex Nichiporchik, who grew up in Latvia to a Ukrainian mother and Belarusian father, said: “All of the UK embassies got shut down two weeks ago for visa processing…it’s extremely frustrating.”
The Home Office has announced it is prioritising Ukraine Family Scheme applications over work and study visas after it scrambled to respond to the refugee crisis sparked by war in Ukraine. But Nichiporchik also criticised the department’s handling of this situation.
“There should have been much faster actions in the UK to facilitate more intake of people from Ukraine,” he said. “I think it’s inhumane.”
Around 30 of TinyBuild’s 400 staff are based in Ukraine. The company has been working to relocate employees and their families away from bombardment zones after weeks of planning in the run up to the invasion.
“When sh*t hit the fan…we knew exactly what to do,” Nichiporchik said.
TinyBuild has also wrestled with travel restrictions and visa problems while supporting the company’s Russian employees and their families with a relocation to the Balkans.
“Our people are one and it doesn’t matter what passport you hold, you shouldn’t be judged on your passport because of the actions of tyrants,” Nichiporchik said.
His comments came as TinyBuild posted record sales of £52 million in 2021, up 39% on the previous year. The company has more than doubled its games catalogue since its March 2021 IPO and acquired a number of smaller games studios, including the US-based RPG publisher Versus Evil.
The company boasts a portfolio of over 70 games available in 15 countries and is known for popular titles like Hello Neighbor and SpeedRunners.
A former professional gamer and games journalist, Nichiporchik founded TinyBuild in 2011 after a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. He now holds a 38% stake in the company worth £115 million, according to Bloomberg data.
Shares in the AIM-listed business jumped 4% in early trading.
