Ministers are, however, continuing to resist visa waivers and on Monday voiced concern that Ireland’s open door policy to Ukrainian refugees represents a security risk to the UK, amid claims that Dublin failed to consult London on its plans in advance.
Ireland joined the EU-wide scheme that allows people fleeing Ukraine to settle without a visa for three years. The UK has maintained a stricter entry process, requiring all Ukrainian applicants to seek a formal visa and to submit their biometric data for security checks.
The Home Office said last night nearly 9,000 family visa applications had been submitted, with a further 8,000 started. Just 300 have been issued.
Ms Patel told MPs the Home Office was “surging” staff to Visa Application Centres (VAC) in Europe and that an extra VAC was being set up “en route” to Calais to meet demand although she did not say where or when it would open.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council said: “‘The Government’s response looks rather chaotic. There needs to be a simple, safe route which says ‘If you’re Ukrainian, come here and we’ll grant you permission to be in the UK, where you will be welcomed as refugee.’”
‘Time to cut the red tape’
Roger Gale, a Tory MP in Kent, said: “What are we doing to relieve the pressure on those frontline states that have already taken in more than a million people? Time, surely, to cut the red tape and admit any refugees with a valid Ukrainian passport and any accompanying children.”
On Sunday Ms Patel signalled a potential third route for refugees without family links to the UK. This went beyond the schemes for refugees with immediate or extended family links to the UK or those who can secure sponsorship from community organisations, businesses or individuals.
She told The Sun: “In response to the desperation I saw with my own eyes at the Polish border two days ago, I’m urgently escalating our response to the growing humanitarian crisis.
“I am now investigating the legal options to create a humanitarian route.”
A source confirmed: “As the crisis is developing it is becoming clear some people have needs that go beyond what sponsorship can offer and [Priti Patel] does not want to see anyone excluded – hence why [a third route] being considered.”
However, Boris Johnson distanced himself from the plans, saying there were already two uncapped “very, very generous routes” while a Downing Street spokesman said the new route was “the sponsorship route that we set out last week.”
Asked if the UK was considering a third route that would take in Ukrainians without links to the UK, the Prime Minister replied: “Let me be very clear, what we won’t do is have a system where people can come into the UK without any checks or any controls at all. I don’t think that is the right approach but what we will do is have a system that is very, very generous.”
