A Lanarkshire man who flew to Poland in a desperate bid to bring his Ukrainian wife home to Scotland has labelled the visa process “shambolic”.
Scott Yardley, 40, travelled to Krakow on March 4 to try to help his wife Liza, 37, and her two daughters arrange visas after they fled their homeland following the Russian invasion. The Wishaw man had started the process weeks earlier as the threat of war loomed.
The couple married in Dnipro two-and-a-half years ago and Liza was expecting to make the move to North Lanarkshire this summer.
But the events of the last few weeks forced Liza and her teenage daughters - Anya and Ira - over the border to Krakow where they were reunited with Scott.
The family have been staying in hotels in the Polish city and Scott, who works for South Lanarkshire Council, has already spent a lump of his savings on visa applications, accommodation, food and subsistence.
“We were already planning for Liza to come to Wishaw this summer when this happened,” Scott told Lanarkshire Live.
“I’ve been working and saving and Anya and Ira have just started university, so we were waiting on them settling in first. They were going to stay in Ukraine and finish their courses.
“I travelled over to try and help get this mess sorted out but it’s not really had any impact.”
More than two million Ukrainians have already left the country as the refugee crisis continues to grow.
Scott claims there has been a catalogue of errors from the start of their application process, including the Home Office claiming a spelling mistake in his email address resulted in him not receiving vital correspondence.
The family then turned up at the visa application centre (VAC) to be told there was no record of their application.
They have also had to contend with being shunted from pillar to post – having to visit application centres in different cities.
And despite sitting the entire day in the VAC in Rzeszów they weren’t seen and had to stay in a hostel overnight, returning at 7am the next day to find around 60 people already in front of them in the queue only to be told the appointment system had crashed.
Scott added: “We’ve had to go there three times already, and it’s over a four-hour round-trip on the train.
“Luckily the Polish Government are providing free train travel for Liza and the girls as they are refugees.
“Poland have taken in around 1.2m people from the Ukraine, and Ireland have taken around 2000, but the last I heard Britain had only allowed 50.”
Scott labelled TLS – the company subcontracted by the UK to deal with visa applications – as a "tin pot organisation".
He added: “You’re expecting something connected the British Government to be streamlined and welcoming.
"Effectively it’s a canteen within a new-build office block that’s been emptied out. There was no organisation at all and it’s nothing short of shambolic. They spent about 45 minutes trying to organise a queue, that’s time wasted.
“We’ve basically been in limbo since February 13 when we started the process. The girls have now been given another appointment for March 18 so we’re trying to find accommodation until then.”
Marion Fellows MP for Motherwell and Wishaw highlighted Scott and Liza’s plight with a passionate plea for help in the Houses of Commons.
She has also called for a complete overhaul of the Home Office’s policies against Ukrainian people, saying: “My constituent has now been trying to get his family home to Wishaw since February 17.
"There is no concrete guidance, advice is changing every day and we are unable to provide certainty as to when they will get back to safety.
“The cost, both financial and emotional, to navigate this cruel, ineffective and incapacitated system will be absolutely devastating. These are people just trying to come home or get to safety after fleeing a warzone. What happens to those unable to bear these costs?
“A complete overhaul of the Home Office’s cruel policies towards the Ukrainian people is needed urgently. The UK Government must put an end to this and waive all visa requirements for Ukrainians now to get people to safety."
A UK Government spokesman said: “Last week we announced a new sponsorship route which will allow Ukrainians with no family ties to the UK to be sponsored to come to the UK.
“This is alongside our Ukraine Family Scheme, which has already seen thousands of people apply, as well as changes to visas so that people can stay in the UK safely.
“The routes we have put in place follow extensive engagement with Ukrainian partners. This is a rapidly moving and complex picture and as the situation develops we will continue to keep our support under constant review.”
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