Health Secretary Sajid Javid
(Picture: PA Wire)Security checks on Ukrainian refugees before they can be issued with visas to come to the UK are essential, a Cabinet minister said on Monday as he accepted they should be “proportionate”.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it is “right that there are some level of security checks” because of the risk that Russian agents or members of extremist groups could slip into Britain under cover of the refugee programme.
Mr Javid, who was home secretary during the 2018 Salisbury nerve agent attack, told Sky News: “Of course the level of security checks needs to be proportionate to the issues we are dealing with, but at the same time they mustn’t get in the way of letting Ukrainians come here to safety.”
The Government has come under intense criticism for the slow rate at which visas have been issued compared with other European countries and also for the red tape that traumatised applicants have to grapple with.
So far about 9,500 visas have been issued to refugees under the Ukraine family scheme which is open to refugees with relatives in Britain, and about 150,000 people have registered with the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.
An estimated 3.4 million Ukrainians have fled the conflict with two million welcomed in Poland.
Mr Javid told LBC that eventually “I expect that we will see hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians arrive here in the UK, and they will get all the support that they need”.
But more evidence emerged on Monday of the impact of the bureaucracy that host families and applicants for UK visas have to navigate before documents are issued.
This has forced many refugees to sleep rough while they wait for their documents to be approved, a process that the Government says could take six weeks. Volunteer Ruth McMenamin, who is working in Poland, said that UK-bound refugees were sleeping in train stations and emergency accommodation as they wait for permission to travel.
The travel company marketing executive added: “There are dangers in having to wait around for applications to be processed as these woman and children have nowhere to live.
“There are reports of trafficking. The process needs to be sped up. Other countries are allowing people to go straight there.” Although the first refugees under the scheme are due to arrive this week, host families have said they have “absolutely no idea” how long the process will take.
A government spokesman said it was making changes to the visa process so that it is “quicker and simpler” for Ukrainian refugees.
These include expanding capacity at visa application centres and allowing valid passport holders to not have to attend in-person appointments.
