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The Home Office has reversed “catastrophic” changes to the Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme to ensure that children can now join their parents in the UK, after The Independent highlighted instances of families being separated.
While Britain has offered sanctuary to nearly 300,000 Ukrainians after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, changes to the rules issued overnight last February by the Tory government have prevented some parents from bringing their children to the UK.
In a letter to home secretary Yvette Cooper last week, the charity Settled warned that Ukrainians were resorting to illegal routes and “rogue advisers” to bring their children to the UK as a result, putting them at risk of exploitation by criminals and traffickers.
The charity, which is among several organisations supporting Ukrainian families unable to reunite in the UK, has assisted in more than 100 cases of children being unable to join their parents after the policy change last year.
While Ukrainian refugees could previously sponsor family members, the new rules meant that only British and Irish citizens or those with permanent leave to remain were able to do so. Announcing the changes last year, the government admitted it had done so without warning to avoid a “misplaced surge of applications”.
The Independent has since highlighted multiple cases in which parents who left young children with relatives in Ukraine while they travelled ahead to find suitable work and accommodation in Britain suddenly found they were no longer able to obtain a UK visa for their children.
In other cases, mothers returned to Ukraine to give birth, only to find they were unable to bring their babies back to Britain.
But in new guidance issued on Friday morning, the Home Office has now stated that a parent or legal guardian who holds permission under any of the Ukraine schemes can apply to sponsor their child.
Children sponsored by their parents or guardians will be given permission to live in the UK for up to 18 months, and will have access to education, healthcare, benefits and employment where eligible, the new guidance states.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Under the previous government, a change was made to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which meant that parents could not sponsor their children to join them in the UK even if they had appropriate accommodation.
“We have taken urgent action to resolve this issue, which will now enable parents with Ukraine Scheme visas to sponsor their children to join them in the UK. These will apply to both applications that have already been made, as well as future applications.”
Charities welcomed the move, with Settled’s chief executive Kate Smart saying: “Ever since the policy change was announced last February Settled knew the heartache and risk it created … We owe thanks to our lawyers have worked so hard to support these Ukrainian families.”
The charity’s schemes adviser Yuliia Ismail added: “We ask that the Home Office now acts quickly to decide outstanding applications from children stuck in Ukrainian conflict zones some of which have been in limbo for almost a year.
“We further ask that a legal route is opened to enable Ukrainian children who have already arrived in the UK to regularise their immigration status in line with status given to the parents.”
Speaking to The Independent last week, one mother said she was left with no choice but to bring her children from Ukraine illegally after their carer grandparent fell ill, after she and her partner paid nearly €3,000 (£2,500) to a fraudulent adviser in the UK while desperately seeking visas for their children.
Speaking through a translator, she said: “It was so difficult. I was not sure if it was the right thing to do – that feeling I am doing something wrong is always with me – but I’d tried everything and I reached the point that I just didn’t have a choice, and could not leave my children in Ukraine.”
Another mother who contacted The Independent after her application to bring her son and daughter to the UK was refused said in October: “I regularly wake up in nightmares worrying about my children. I have a simple, elementary basic desire: to finally hug my children and be with them, know that they are safe … Right now, I’m not living – I’m existing in waiting.”
Welcoming the changes on Friday, Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of Work Rights Centre, told the BBC: “It will come as a huge relief to those parents who have been separated from their children, and will finally be able to bring them to the UK to reunite in safety.”
She added: “However, this action does not help those who have been forced apart from other family members, including siblings, parents or partners.
“We know there are many Ukrainians in the UK who left behind elderly, sick or disabled relatives with the belief they would be able to bring them later. They face a cruel choice: leave the safety of the UK to care for them in Ukraine, or remain in safety leaving their loved ones vulnerable at risk.”