Imagine you are a Ukrainian fleeing the war. Your home has been bombed, you have just lost everything and you’re carrying the few possession you have left in a plastic bag.
You know generous Brits want to welcome you to the safety of our shores. But first you have to navigate the bureaucracy.
Currently to get here you have to fill in a complex visa application form. A friend of mine did it on behalf of a Ukrainian refugee and it took her three hours.
My friend is intelligent, British, so a native English speaker, and has not just been frightened out of her wits by a Russian invasion. Yet even she struggled.
While I welcome the decision to allow holders of Ukrainian passports to apply online for a visa without having to submit biometrics, surely this week the Home Office must announce plans to make it much easier?
Ukrainians without a biometric passport will still have to travel to a Visa Application Centre to submit fingerprints and we have seen the chaos at these centres where few appointments are available.
A single online application for a whole family, rather than each individual, would make the process both easier and more efficient. And it would be kinder to children.
We should be issuing visas as quickly as possible, not putting obstacles in the way of getting people to safety..
You simply cannot run an ordinary immigration system in such extraordinary times.
