A Ukrainian family set for sanctuary in Perthshire is having to apply for full refugee status in Romania due to the prolonged delays to their UK visa application.
Iryna Vekhtieva, and sons Filip and Timofii, are currently sleeping in a church in Galati and have also been recommended to reapply for their visa - which could oddly speed up the process.
Martin and Rebekah Hodson of Auchterarder are in touch with Iryna and her sons, who fled the shelling in Mykolaiv in May to take refuge in the neighbouring EU nation.
The trio are hoping to stay with the local couple through the national ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme having first made contact with them via friends who run the Galati-based place of worship.
However, having applied for their visas on May 4, Martin said Iryna has heard nothing from the Visas and Immigration Department since a generic email acknowledgment on May 10.
The Ukrainian family were also tasked with travelling nearly 250km to a visa application centre in Bucharest to hand over additional travel documents, but still no meeting date has been set.
Their deadline for access to the UK passed on Saturday, July 9 and temporary asylum granted by Romania ended on July 17, meaning they risk being returned to their war-torn homeland.
However Martin said he has been in regular contact with Iryna who said she is applying for permanent refugee status in Romania to give them more time for their UK visa processing.
“Iryna has been in touch with other Ukrainian families whose application has been delayed,” he revealed.
“On Monday she was applying for refugee status in Romania which isn’t like a visa so she should get that in the next couple of days.
“We called the visa advisers and they recommended cancelling the May 10 visa application and reapplying.
“Apparently people are cancelling their application and reapplying, which means it can be dealt with much quicker somehow.
“It may be down to a system error.
“So that is the best thing to do meaning they can stay longer in Romania.
“Then we will see what happens.”
Martin also revealed the refugee centre at the Galati church will close in August, adding further time pressures for the family.
“The refugee centre will close in August, but that is still a few weeks away,” he added.
“There are good people running the centre, so they will not be left homeless.
“But that is where we are at really. Five minutes on the phone beforehand [with an adviser] and we could have had this ironed out.
“But it is best to abandon the previous application and apply again.”
A government spokesperson previously stated: “Applications are usually processed in the order they are received, but cases vary in complexity.
“Where we are made aware of an administrative error we also act swiftly to ensure people have the documents they need to travel to the UK.”
