A teenage Ukrainian refugee who fought a visa battle against the UK Government has finally made it to Scotland.
Nataliia Zavhorodnia arrived at her new home in Hamilton, Lanarkshire late yesterday morning after more than two months of trying.
The 15-year-old was in limbo because she fled Ukraine with her aunt and not her parents - meaning she was classed as an unaccompanied child who are ineligible for visas.
But after campaigning by her host family - highlighted by the Sunday Mail - her visa was approved and she made it to Scotland via Paris and London.
Nataliia and her aunt, Millena Kornieieva, 34, spent yesterday settling in at the home of Kate and Martin Fuller where neighbours had been welcoming them with Ukraine flags.
Kate, 40, said: “We’re so happy they’re both finally here.
“They’re settling in fine and starting their Scottish adventure now.
“The girls are both just so thankful for everything that everyone has done for them.
“Nataliia’s mum is really happy that’s she’s now safe.”
The Sunday Mail revealed last month how Nataliia found herself in the odd situation where travel to the UK for her two pet guinea pigs had been approved but her visaapplication was rejected by the Home Office.
Her aunt’s visa had been approved straight away.
The case had been taken up by Kate’s local MP Margaret Ferrier who raised it with ministers in Westminster and described Nataliia’s desperate plight in the House of Commons.
It went down the wire but last week the visa was finally approved personally by the Minister for Refugees, Lord Harrington, in a move that’s hoped could pave the way for other children in the same situation.
Nataliia’s mum Hanna wanted her to leave their home in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with her aunt over fears of attacks on young women by invading Russian soldiers.
Her mum has stayed to look after Nataliia’s wee brother Sasha, 9, while her dad Oleksii is helping with the war which has being gone on since the end of February.
After her visa was approved Nataliia penned a letter to everyone who had helped her.
It said: “I want to thank you all so much for helping me to get the visa. It means so much to me and my family.
“I already started giving up and thought that it would not be approved so I was trying to get ready to go home and tried to prepare myself for this challenge.
“I am truly amazed and thankful to all of you.. thank you so much for saving me.”
Rejecting the visa would have left Nataliia facing a return to Ukraine or going into a refugee camp.
She’s come to the UK under the popular Homes for Ukraine scheme and was matched up to Kate and Martin via a Ukrainian refugee Facebook group.
