A Ukrainian teenager is desperately trying to come to Lanarkshire – despite her guinea pigs already having been given the green light to come to the UK.
Nataliia Zavhorodnia has had her visa delayed by the Home Office after waiting for months to escape her war-torn country.
And in a bizarre set of events, the 15-year-old’s two pets - Melon and Julienne - have been permitted to enter the country by the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Now her struggle to get here with her 34-year-old aunt, Millena Kornieieva, has been raised in the House of Commons.
Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Margaret Ferrier told Parliament: “Millena’s visa was approved in mid-April, but Nataliia is still waiting for hers.
"Unbelievably, I understand Nataliia’s guinea pigs have been given the green light to enter the UK, but their 15-year-old owner has not.”
Nataliia’s parents made the difficult decision to give up legal guardianship of their daughter to send her to Lanarkshire with her aunt, with the pair placed with a Hamilton couple through the Homes for Ukraine scheme..
Martin Fuller and his wife Kate have been campaigning tirelessly for Nataliia to get her visa, who risks being separated from her aunt and sent to a refugee camp - or returning to war-torn Ukraine.
Ms Ferrier added: “Millena and Nataliia are running out of time and money.
"They are currently in Budapest, having travelled from Moldova.
"They cannot wait there indefinitely, and sooner or later, Millena is going to have to make a similar impossible choice to the one Nataliia’s parents faced.
“She can come to the UK, but Nataliia cannot join her. This is a disgrace.
"She is a child, vulnerable and needing protection. She cannot be left to fend for herself.”
The teenager wrote an emotional letter directly to the Home Office appealing for them to allow her into the country, detailing her terrifying experience of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Mrs Ferrier read it out to MPs - part of it read: “Now I check my mail every morning, and every time it’s empty. I never wanted anything so much. Every day my faith that I will be able to come decreases. Time is running out and I can’t wait for the visa any longer. I will have to return to Ukraine, return to danger, return and live again with the war outside my window.”
Immigration minister Kevin Foster has said he will look into the case, but highlighted there are specific differences in cases involving children travelling without their parents.
The Fullers previously spoke to Lanarkshire Live about the difficulty they had with the visa applications.
Kate told us: “The Government has made the process quite difficult.
“I feel like they are making it harder than it needs to be. It’s quite unbelievable that her guinea pigs can get into the country but she can’t.
"The system is all over the place.”
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