Ukrainian refugee left waiting 10 days for UK visa which had already been approved

Oleksandra Kolesnyk’s family convinced her to leave Odesa after the Russian invasion and move in with them in the UK. The 77-year-old had previously been granted a visa to visit Britain.

On March 15, they submitted a visa application on her behalf under the Government’s Ukraine Family Scheme, which allows Ukrainians to join family members in the UK.

It was approved three days later but the family were not informed until March 28. They did not find out about the delay until Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, intervened in the case.

Ms Kolesnyk got a lift to the German city of Munich, where she met her daughter, and they stayed with friends and at rented apartments while they anxiously waited to find out whether she would be allowed to stay in the UK.

It comes as the Government is being urged to step up efforts to process visas for Ukrainian refugees. It has received 65,000 applications so far and approved less than half (29,100).

Her son-in-law Tom Kirkup said: “It's been very hard on her mentally. We had to persuade her to flee the war zone because she didn't particularly want to leave.

“Then when she did, she (was) kicked around, staying with our friends then at Airbnbs, knowing that she's waiting for our country to say that she's allowed in.

“She entered the EU with my wife, and they were pretty much waved through the border. But the UK made her wait in limbo for the best part of two weeks to send a visa which they processed within a few days.”

He added: “It feels like a kick in the teeth. They’re doing this to a 77-year-old refugee.

“We were lucky as they were in Airbnbs. What if they had been like many refugees, in refugee centres or a school gym somewhere with no money?

“This has cost our family about £1,500 quid, which ironically, is pretty much exactly the fee the Home Office are going to demand of us for my wife's British citizenship."

Ms Kolesnyk arrived safely in the UK with her daughter yesterday.

A Government spokeswoman said: “We are moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing Ukraine can find safety in the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine.

“We have streamlined the process so valid passport holders do not have to attend in-person appointments before arriving in the UK, simplified our forms and boosted caseworker numbers, while ensuring vital security checks are carried out.

“We continue to speed up visa processing across both schemes, with over 29,000 visas issued in the last three weeks alone and thousands more expected to come through these uncapped routes.”