Thursday 12 December 2024
 7.2°C   SW Gentle Breeze
SCT - 2025/26 Small Grant SchemeSCT - 2025/26 Small Grant Scheme
Ocean Kinetics - The Engineering Experts

Letters / Refugee scheme ‘disjointed and chaotic’

My partner Robin and I are happy to welcome a Ukrainian refugee into our home. We applied through the government scheme two weeks ago and although our application was acknowledged, we’ve heard nothing since.

We then discovered in order to sponsor a refugee we had to know a named Ukrainian.

We don’t know any Ukrainians and the government scheme doesn’t match refugees with sponsors.

It seems that charities are given that task – but the Westminster government and Scottish Government haven’t provided any information or have a website that advises how to find a refugee and doesn’t provide a list of participating charities, so one has to search the internet for those charities.

We have found a couple of charities that appear to match and place refugees with sponsors, but despite making an application to these charities over ten days ago, we’ve not had a reply.

The only other possible source is to search for privately created Facebook pages that are attempting to match sponsors with Ukrainian refugees.

But this is both disorganised and doesn’t screen possible fake refugees which I have already identified.

Once (if!) one does eventually find a refugee (which after two weeks has failed) a visa application(s) in English has to be completed separately for each family member, most often by the sponsor, and then submitted with biometric photographic evidence and documents. Note: As far as I know, the UK is the only country requiring a visa application for Ukrainian refugees.

The system of both finding, matching, identifying and then starting the process of completing and then submitting the single refugee or family visas, having the host checked out, etc., is so disjointed and chaotic it seems nigh impossible to sponsor and host.

Whilst all the time refugees are desperate to resettle from their war torn country. It’s as though the system has been designed to fail.

Become a member of Shetland News

 

Due to such a chaotic and totally frustrating system, we are just about to give up the idea on sponsoring a Ukrainian refugee. Here are a few UK Facebook links that might help match a Ukrainian refugee:

UK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/927852904567703/

UK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/683850136294168/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/699929631375624/

https://www.ukrainetakeshelter.com

https://www.opora.uk

Kerrie Meyer
Bigton

Become a member of Shetland News

Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.

 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 

Newsletters

Subscribe to a selection of different newsletters from Shetland News, varying from breaking news delivered on the minute, to a weekly round-up of the opinion posts. All delivered straight to your inbox.

Daily Briefing Newsletter Weekly Highlights Newsletter Opinion Newsletter Life in Shetland Newsletter

JavaScript Required

We're sorry, but Shetland News isn't fully functional without JavaScript enabled.
Head over to the help page for instructions on how to enable JavaScript on your browser.

Your Privacy

We use cookies on our site to improve your experience.
By using our service, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Browser is out-of-date

Shetland News isn't fully functional with this version of .
Head over to the help page for instructions on updating your browser for more security, improved speed and the best overall experience on this site.

Interested in Notifications?

Get notifications from Shetland News for important and breaking news.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Have you considered becoming a member of Shetland News?

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please consider paying for membership and get the following features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.