Ukrainian visa schemes in UK leave refugees in limbo

Lin Taylor, Reuters

After fleeing Ukraine with her new-born baby and toddler in 2022, Lidiia rebuilt her life Britain, but now the 36-year-old fears she will have to return next year because there is no easy way to get the right to permanently stay in her new home. With the Russian invasion well into its third year and little sign of peace, Lidiia, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy, is terrified for her children. "Even if they say there's a ceasefire ... I will have in my mind that in five, six years, (the Russians) are going to be back," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"And then my son will have to be a soldier. My daughter might be killed," she said. Like most of the 218,000 Ukrainians who came to Britain on special visas from 2022, Lidiia is running out of time — her original visa is expiring and although she is applying for an extension, even that will run out after another 18 months. Although nearly 70% of Ukrainians in Britain want to stay, according to a 2024 Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey, without legal status, many say they will have no choice but to head elsewhere or return to their war-ravaged homeland.

With Ukraine urging citizens to come back — it created the Ministry of National Unity last December to facilitate the return of nearly 7 million citizens — and Britain offering no permanent resettlement process, Lidiia feels trapped. She says her children feel more British than Ukrainian and have close bonds with their community in northern England. "I want to stay in the UK, 100%. If the UK doesn't want us to stay, I will go back to Ukraine and just hope that we'll survive. There is no other choice," said the charity worker.

Britain has two visa schemes for Ukrainian refugees: one for those with family already in the UK — a route that has now closed — and the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme that allowed Britons to offer accommodation to those fleeing the war.

In February this year, the government opened an 18-month Ukrainian Protection Extension visa to those whose initial three-year visas were due to expire this year. But none of these schemes offer the option of staying permanently and the Home Office, or interior ministry, has yet to propose further visa extensions. "Our offer of temporary sanctuary is in line with the Ukrainian government's strong desire for the future return of its citizens, and does not lead to settlement," a Home Office spokesperson said in emailed comments.

Ukrainian support charity Opora said Ukrainians should have the choice to resettle in Britain and could help rebuild Ukraine from afar by, for example, sending back remittances. "Ukraine will need people going back to rebuild, of course, but closing off options and thereby forcing people to go back will not build a happy cohort of returnees. So give people a choice," said managing director Stan Beneš.

In early June, the European Commission proposed extending temporary protection for around 4.26 million Ukrainian refugees in the European Union until March 2027. It also recommended member states start transitioning those who want to stay to other legal statuses, for instance by offering work permits and student visas.

Settled, a charity that supports EU citizens and Ukrainians in Britain, urged London to follow suit and increase the duration of the extension visa to 36 months from 18, and also offer resettlement possibilities, as is the case for Afghans and Hong Kongers.

"Ukrainians should be given a path to settlement. We have children who have been born and are growing up in the UK. English is their first language," said Yuliia Ismail, an immigration adviser at Settled.

She said she had seen an increase in Ukrainians wanting to apply for asylum, despite a record backlog, because if they were successful they would be able to stay indefinitely.

In the first quarter of 2025, there were nearly 380 asylum claims by Ukrainians, compared to 570 in all of 2024 and around 100 the year before, according to official data.

"This uncertainty pushes people to the asylum system," Ismail said.

Even with an 18-month visa extension, many Ukrainians are unable secure rental accommodation or work contracts because of uncertainty over their ultimate status, charities say.

More than a third of Ukrainians surveyed by the ONS in 2024 said they were looking for work, and only a third said they were working in the same sector as they did in Ukraine.

A February report by the British Red Cross said without jobs, many Ukrainians were unable to rent properties and were more than twice as likely to be homeless than the general population.

Maria, a 40-year-old single mother from Kyiv living in Scotland, said she could not find teaching work despite retraining to get local qualifications and applying for around 100 jobs.

Maria, who also used a pseudonym for privacy, said employers were not interested in hiring Ukrainians for longer-term jobs.

"It really distresses me. We cannot buy anything new for our home like a wardrobe, even an extra spoon. What will we do if we need to leave? Everyday life is just unstable. I cannot think about what tomorrow will be," she said.