Ukraine crisis: Nicola Sturgeon urges UK Government to lift visa requirements for all Ukrainians

The Home Office must lift visa requirements for all Ukrainians seeking entry to the UK, the First Minister of Scotland has said.

Nicola Sturgeon said current regulations are “too limited” and it is “unacceptable” if the UK Government does not allow an easing of current guidance.

Under current UK Government guidance, non-British family members of British nationals in Ukraine can apply for a family migration visa.

However, a British national family member must be one of the following: a spouse or civil partner, unmarried partner (you must have been living together in a relationship for at least two years), a parent if under the age of 18, a child under the age of 18, an adult relative the British national provides care for who lives with them due to a medical condition.

The Scottish Refugee Council has said the UK must take “immediate steps”, including lifting all visa requirements for Ukrainians to fly to the UK.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Restricting to family members is too limited and defining ‘family member’ so narrowly compounds this.

“The UK Home Office must lift visa requirement for all Ukrainians seeking entry to UK as other countries doing. Anything less is unacceptable.”

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, has said the Home Office must lift visa requirements for all Ukrainians seeking entry to the UK. (Photo: Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA Wire).

It is understood the UK is currently reviewing its Ukrainian refugee scheme.

Yet, in the House of Lords on Monday, a spokesperson said “a visa waiver is not a solution to the challenges faced by Ukrainians” and is an “important security tool” when Lord Hunt of Kings Heath asked the government whether they will remove all visa restrictions for refugees coming from Ukraine.

Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkeny and Shetland said: “There may be a change coming but what we have currently is a woefully inadequate response to the terrible human tragedy we are seeing unfold.”

Labour shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said that the government’s record was “shameful” and that, despite claims that Ukrainians who were close relatives of British nationals would benefit, even brothers or sisters might not.

The EU commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic said Russia's war on Ukraine risks displacing "over seven million people".

The EU announced it has unanimously agreed amongst all member countries to take in Ukrainian refugees for up to 3 years without asking them to first apply for asylum.

The First Minister has criticised the UK Government for not following suit, however, a senior Conservative MP said the UK could end up accepting Ukrainians fleeing war for up to three years.

Tom Tugendhat, the Conservartive chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, told the Today programme on Monday he thought the government would end up following the EU policy.

Asked if he thought the current UK sanctions announced by the Prime Minister went far enough, he said they didn’t.

He said: “I’ve been speaking to ministers this morning and I can tell you there are many who are hopeful that this will be something that’s reviewed in the coming days.”

Asked about the EU’s refugee three-year policy, he replied:”I suspect that’s likely to be where we end up to be honest. I think there’s a definite opportunity to be generous.”

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