Britain has issued 25,500 visas to Ukrainian refugees

The British government announced today that it has granted 25,500 visas (entry visas) to Ukrainians under programs created to allow refugees to enter the country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month.

Data from the Home Office show that 22,800 entry visas have been issued under the Ukrainian Family Plan, which allows applicants to reunite with relatives in Britain, while 2,700 were granted under a sponsorship program, which allows refugees with a named sponsor to enter the country.

The figures released today also show that 28,300 people have applied for the sponsorship program, while the total number of applications is 59,500.

With more than 4 million people fleeing Ukraine to escape the war, the British government has been under pressure to do more to accept refugees.

“We are beginning to see progress (…) we need to do more and we will make further improvements to bring people to the UK as soon as possible,” said Richard Harrington, the minister in charge of refugees.

Transport Minister Grand Saps said last week that he had arranged to receive a family of Ukrainian refugees through the sponsorship program.

Britain has insisted on security checks and visas before entering the country to maintain control over who enters the country, while the EU, which has a land border with Ukraine, has taken a less restrictive approach.

In Ireland, the Minister for Housing said today that the cost of hosting tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees could be as high as 2.5 billion euros, noting that an additional 35,000 homes could be needed.

“You can see an amount of 1.7 billion and that could increase, depending on how many people come, to about 2.5 billion,” Darag O’Brien told RTE radio, citing a memo to the cabinet yesterday. at the expense of “all the needs” of Ukrainians relocating to Ireland.

Source: AMPE