Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Thursday 28th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to provide an update on the working of the visa application centres in relation to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Kevin Foster)]

The whole country is united in horror at Putin’s grotesque war, and we stand with the Ukrainian people. Many in this Chamber wear it as a badge of honour that they were sanctioned by the Kremlin yesterday due to that support.

We are delighted that so many British people have already put forward generous offers of help to displaced Ukrainians. Nearly 90,000 visas have been issued so that people can rebuild their life in the UK through the Ukraine family scheme and Homes for Ukraine. Our visa application centre footprint in Europe has traditionally been small, in line with the fairly limited demand. This is because EU nationals had freedom of movement and, post-Brexit, EU nationals do not need visas to visit the UK, with applications from European economic area nationals for key routes such as skilled worker and student visas able to be done from home via our fully digital application route.

As the Ukrainian crisis escalated, we increased appointment capacity across Europe, going from offering about 2,000 appointments a week to offering 13,500 appointments a week. In the run-up to the recent Russian invasion, we established a new visa application centre in Lviv, and we kept our visa application centre in Kyiv running right up until the Russian attack was launched. We also established a new application point in Rzeszów near the Polish border with Ukraine. We were able to offer walk-in and on-the-day appointments to customers wishing to apply for the initial family member concession route and were able to fulfil all appointments wherever they were required.

I am pleased to advise the House that visa application centre appointments are readily available in all locations across Europe, and in the majority of locations are available on the same day for customers looking to book a slot. As we have throughout, we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine.

[Wendy Chamberlain]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question.

We all know that the conflict in Ukraine has been devastating, and the resulting humanitarian crisis is outwith the control of any Government. Members of this House are now familiar with UK Visas and Immigration and the Homes for Ukraine scheme, but refugees—not “customers”—without passports are required to go through additional checks at in-country visa application centres, following which their permission to travel is provided in person. The majority of those who are required to go through this are very young children who do not yet have their own passport.

The problem is that the VACs are not providing anywhere near the service required and the Home Office seems unable to do anything about it. VACs have been outsourced to TLScontact for the past nine years, with the contract renewed twice. However, before the current crisis, an inspection found that TLScontact was missing targets, there was a lack of support for vulnerable applicants and there was no transparency from the Home Office in relation to the service level.

My own constituents’ case exemplifies these problems. Sofia and Kirill are four and seven. They have experienced significant trauma from the devastation they saw before leaving Ukraine. Their application was initially submitted in mid-March. I am pleased to say that, finally, it was granted last night, but this was weeks after the adults in their group were able to travel. In that time, the family made three visits to the VAC, each time waiting for hours and then being sent away. Each child was issued documentation that was factually incorrect and had to be reprocessed, and throughout this the family were moving between temporary accommodations in Poland, with no certainty and no funds. My office has been extensively involved in trying to conclude this case, with representations made to senior Home Office officials and via the Minister for Refugees. Even they could not get answers. It was admitted by one official that this was not the service we should expect at a basic level, never mind for families fleeing war.

What are the current oversight arrangements for TLScontact and for its day-to-day operation of VACs? What steps are being taken to improve such oversight and to prevent the current black hole, whereby no one has overall responsibility for their proper functioning? What was the outcome of the Minister for Refugees’ visit to see the areas surrounding Ukraine? Did he visit any of the VACs? What issues did he identify and what steps are being taken to resolve them? What steps are being taken to ensure immediately that FAVs—forms for affixing the visa—are issued to families promptly and without error? What steps are being taken to ensure proper communication with families? I am not asking for an update on a particular case. I am asking a fundamental question about operations.

[Kevin Foster]

It is worth outlining where we see the future of our immigration system. As I touched on in my statement, EEA nationals already make fully online applications, for things such as student and skilled worker visas. When we rolled out the British nationals overseas route last year, we included a fully digital application system, which the vast majority of applicants have used. Our future work is to move away from people having to go to a VAC every time they want to apply for particular types of visas, including visit, student and skilled worker visas, and for a range of products that people apply for. For example, we will be moving to more of a system where we re-use biometrics or are able to extract biometrics via passports. Our future vision for the UK immigration system looks towards a time when a lot fewer people will be going to a VAC than are doing so today, and that technology will be used. We have seen that move in the Ukraine schemes. For example, about 90% of those who have now been granted visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have done this via the biometric bypass: they have not had to attend a VAC. We are also looking to roll out next month the system that will allow those who have come to this country with six months on a permission to travel letter to then be able to apply for the full visa from home, as would those looking to travel after that. So we are looking to reduce significantly the number of people who need to use a VAC.

That said, for those who do not have valid international passports the VACs perform a role of carrying out safeguarding checks, particularly in relation to children. For those of a younger age, we are not looking at the same security checks as we would do for an adult. For children, we are ensuring that key safeguarding checks are done. As we have said, our feedback at the moment is that there is wide availability of appointments, and that a large number of visas have been issued and people have arrived in the UK, having been through that process, in relatively significant numbers. We continue to work with our provider to improve the service on offer, but, as I say, our long-term vision is moving strongly away from VACs and things such as the issuing of vignettes, and instead looking towards e-visa permissions, which will mean that people do not need to go to collect something physical in their passport to allow them to travel to the UK. That is where the vision is going, but the changes we have made to the two systems, allowing the biometric bypass, means that the vast majority of people now making applications need to go nowhere near a VAC.