A Ukrainian woman was told by the Home Office to leave Scotland and go back to her crisis hit homeland to apply for a UK spouse visa - just days before Russia invaded.
Natalya Fisher is now desperately trying to escape the war and return home to her husband Peter in Boddam, Aberdeenshire.
While planning an exit route, she has joined family and other citizens in making Molotov cocktails in her home city of Dnipro to repel the Russian invasion.
Natalya yesterday sent Peter a heart-rending text fearing for her life, saying: “Just in case, I’ll tell you right now that I love you and meeting you is the best thing that happened in my life.”
Peter, 50, told the Record: “Our plan was always for Natalya to get a spouse visa after her visitor visa ran out but that costs £3,300 and we were saving up.
“But we got a letter from UK Visas and Immigration on the 17th of February that told us Natalya would soon be considered as an illegal alien, from April 28, when an extension to her visitor visa ran out.
“We pleaded to apply for a spouse visa from our home in Boddam but they were quite insistent that, if planes were still getting into Ukraine, she would only be able to apply from there.
“They also made it clear that if she overstayed that it could be detrimental to future visa applications.
“So we had Boris Johnson on one hand telling us Russia was on the brink of invasion and the immigration services telling us we had to get over there or we’d be jeopardising future applications. It was upsetting and confusing.”
He added: “The way we both saw it was like everyone else - that Putin was plotting something but that he would not actually invade.
“We made a huge mistake, as he did invade - just two days after Natalya got there - and it has been living hell since then.
“She was sending me back photos of people in Dnipro making petrol bombs, including her own family. That was not the type of update on her trip that I had foreseen.”
In the last two days Natalya, 38, has travelled to gridlocked Lviv and last night she was seeking to reach the Hungarian border to plot a passage back to her home in the tiny village of Boddam, near Peterhead.
Peter, a driver and fitter for Autoglass, and Natalya met via online dating agency International Cupid in July 2020.
They connected immediately, had romantic meetings in Turkey, Ukraine and the UK and were engaged at Beachy Head, in Sussex, seven months later.
They married in Odessa in June last year and she has stayed in Boddam on a visitor visa since Christmas, as they saved for the £3,300 needed for a full spouse visa.
Peter said: "Our decision for Natalya to go back was very much influenced by the feeling that if she became an ‘overstayer’ now it could wreck her future spouse visa application.
“The UK Visas and Immigration advice was so unhelpful, as they pushed us into making what turned out to be a terrible decision. "
A letter from UKVI to Natalya on February 17 stated that she would be allowed to stay until April 28.
It adds: “During this time, you will not be regarded as an overstayer or suffer any detriment in any future applications. However, you must make plans to leave the UK prior to the date that your assurance expires. If you do not leave on or before this date, you will be classed as an overstayer.”
Peter said: “We were bounced around various departments and we made it very clear that Natalya was fearful about going to Ukraine, given the Prime Minister was telling us all that Russia was on the brink of invasion.
“But the bottom line for them was to tell us that if Natalya stayed beyond April she would be an ‘overstayer’ and that could sink out future together on Scotland. We were held over a barrel and it caused us to make this disastrous decision for her to go there.”
Last night Peter was told by Natalya that she had managed to get a ticket for a bus from Lviv to the Hungarian border.
The exodus involved a two day wait once arriving in Lviv, then another two days awaiting their exit to be processed by Polish border officials.
Peter has been primed, with suitcase packed, to travel to whichever city his wife can reach once she gets out of Ukraine.
He said: “I’m not panicking because she’s done everything right and she seems to be on the way home.
“But the Ukraine is a volatile place all of a sudden and I will believe it when I see it. I can’t wait to see her again.
“I don’t know how long it will take but I hope to join her, perhaps in Budapest, as soon as I get the word.”
The SNP’s Shadow Home Secretary Stuart McDonald MP slammed the Home Office for its “cruel” policies.
He said: “Requiring people to travel thousands of miles away from their families just to apply for a visa to come all the way back again is an incredibly cruel policy at the best of times.
“But to apply it in circumstances when the UK government has been saying an invasion of Ukraine was looking likely is absolutely appalling and shocking.
“With the UN today warning that more than half a million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded last week, it is absolutely vital that the UK government steps up its efforts to support those fleeing the war and seeking safety.
“Our EU partners have already taken the welcome step in lifting visa restrictions, removing the barrier of paperwork, and welcoming them regardless of whether or not they have a family connection in any EU member state.
“In contrast, the UK government’s visa announcement wasn’t anything new at all - it was just a description of the very restrictive family visas that are already in place which falls well short of what is needed now.
“The UK government must immediately follow the lead of the EU and lift its restrictive visa requirements for all Ukrainians seeking entry to the UK, anything less than that would be unacceptable.”
Gary Christie, Head of Policy, Communications & Communities, Scottish Refugee Council said: “It appears the Home Office was woefully underprepared for this crisis, and issued advice out of step with the reality of the situation.
"These are real people’s lives and far better care than the Home Office has shown must be taken.
“Sadly, these situations are being faced by many families and individuals as this crisis develops. We need to see robust and swift action from the Home Office to bring more families together in safety from this dreadful conflict.”
A Home Office spokesman said he did not believe their guidance had suggested Natalya could have a future visa application rejected.
He highlighted three tweets by Home Secretary Priti Patel, which outlined how British nationals can bring their Ukrainian family to the UK to seek sanctuary.
