Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country could finally get easier access to the UK from next week.
The Home Office has come under fire for its slow process at getting UK visas to Ukrainian refugees in the past week - with less than 1,000 issued by yesterday afternoon, while more than 2.2 million had fled Ukraine.
Now, Priti Patel has announced a change to the Ukrainian family scheme, which allows Ukrainian refugees to join relatives living in the UK.
It means Ukrainians will not have to go to a visa application centre if they have a passport.
Ms Patel told MPs today (March 10) that she had received assurances on security matters which have enabled her to make the changes, which are expected to come into effect next Tuesday.
She told the Commons: "From Tuesday, I can announce that Ukrainians with passports will no longer need to go to a visa application centre to give their biometrics before they come to the UK.
“Instead, once their application has been considered and appropriate checks completed, they will receive direct notification that they’re eligible for the scheme and can come to the UK.
“In short, Ukrainians with passports will be able to get permission to come here fully online from wherever they are and will be able to give their biometrics once in Britain.
“This will mean that visa application centres across Europe can focus their efforts on helping Ukrainians without passports.”
Citizens with ID cards, but no passport, will not be able to use the online system and will need to travel to visa application centres as before.
Earlier this week, cabinet members had suggested the delays were due to checks to stop fake claims for Ukrainian refuge being approved by the Home Office.
Ms Patel told MPs that people from 'third countries' had attempted to claim UK visas through schemes set up for Ukrainian refugees.
Yvette Cooper, Labour's shadow home secretary, welcomed the announcement that the process would be eased.
But she questioned why it had taken so long, adding that Ms Patel had to be 'hauled into the House of Commons' to make the change.
She said: "It is welcome that she’s now introducing the online approach, that we know they tried different ways of doing for the Hong Kong visas, but why has it taken so long when she has had intelligence for weeks, if not months, that she needed to prepare for a Russian invasion of Ukraine?
“Why still if we’ve still got to wait until Tuesday for this new system to come in, what is to happen for everybody else in the meantime? Why is she not bringing in the armed forces? They’ve offered to help.
"We’ve had a thousand troops on stand-by to provide humanitarian help for two weeks, so why not use them now to set up the emergency centres and to get people passported through as rapidly as possible and get them into the country?”
Ms Patel added that work is taking place across the UK to help speed up the process of visa checks, including at hubs in Ukrainian centres.
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