A new pop-up visa centre for Ukrainian refugees in Lille will not offer walk-in appointments and only be available for referrals, the Home Office has confirmed.
It comes as the government faces intense pressure over its approach to those fleeing the Russian invasion, with calls to temporarily suspend bureaucratic visa processes.
Boris Johnson earlier told MPs that 1,000 people had so far been approved a visa — despite tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees with family links to the UK applying.
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, hundreds have arrived in Calais, with many attempting to join their relatives in the UK under the Home Office’s family visa scheme.
Yesterday it emerged the government would set up a temporary visa centre in Lille – some 70 miles away – and in a move that is likely to cause further concern, the department said it would only work on a referral basis.
It is understood officials at the Home Office do not want the facility, which will open on Thursday, to become overwhelmed.
Those without referrals from Border Force officials will still be encouraged to book an appointment at a permanent visa centre in locations such as Paris and Brussels.
A government spokesperson said: “In light of the risk from criminals actively operating in the area around Calais, we have set up a new temporary visa application centre in Lille which will open tomorrow focused on referrals only for people in the area eligible for the scheme.”
They added: “The UK stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Ukraine and we have taken urgent action to process visas at speed for all those eligible to the Ukraine Family Scheme, while carrying out vital security checks.
“We have protected appointments at all of our visa application centres to ensure there is sufficient capacity and deployed extra staff to help people through the process as quickly as possible.”
On Wednesday police were called to an application centre in southeast Poland — the country where the vast majority of Ukrainians have fled to — in order to calm crowds.
According to the PA news agency, people fleeing the invasion were banging on the centre’s windows, as visa staff told the crowds in Rzesvow that they were only able to see to 100 applications per day.
Speaking at the Home Affairs committee on Wednesday, Ukraine’s top diplomat in London estimated that “at least” 100,000 refugees could come to the UK, but also urged ministers to drop the visa requirements.
Vadym Prystaiko said he understood the checks required by the British government, but insisted “some bureaucratic procedures could be simplified” and dropping all visa checks could be “considered”.
But the prime minister told MPs the visa checks were needed to prevent Vladimir Putin sending agents to the UK.
He said: “We know how unscrupulous Putin can be in his methods, it would not be right to expose this country to unnecessary security risk and we will not do it.
“We are going to be as generous as we can possibly be, but we must have checks.”
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
