Thread by @uk_domain_names

"Flo's parents are hoping to sponsor Sergei but despite being in close contact with the UK sponsor, the Ukrainian refugee spent over five hours filling in forms and has had to pay to get documents translated into English."

New scheme not fit for purpose. lbc.co.uk/news/homes-for…

For one thing, it uses a much more limited definition of "immediate family", the same one that was widely derided when it applied to the family visa scheme, and which the Home Office very grudgingly expanded. No such expansion here, though.

And then there's the desperately insulting suggestion that the would-be sponsor (who almost certainly doesn't know the refugee, and vice versa) will somehow be able to hand-hold them through the application process from thousands of miles away...

But possibly the biggest roadblock in a process that seems purpose-built to deliver as few visas as possible as slowly as possible is the requirement for the refugee applicant to submit copies of very personal documents belonging to the sponsor as part of their application.

And if they can't cope with uploading stuff (in a foreign language, using an unknown app, from a warzone or temporary refuge, and with likely few if any documents to hand) they have to book a VAC appointment for help. And those are rarer than snowflakes in hell.

The application form is long and complicated.

Assuming they're able to complete it, and submit their documents AND copies of their sponsor's documents, a waiting game begins.

Ukrainian refugees are explicitly told not to travel to the UK before permission is granted.

Hey, guess what? There's a fourth (fifth?) party to this noxious quicksand of a process: local councils.

They're required to conduct extensive checks on refugees, so that's another time suck and another pinch point where things can get messier.

So for a refugee to successfully get paired with a sponsor, they have to find each other's names (UK Government won't help), then each complete applications, then share docs, then get vetted, then wait and hope. Maybe with an optional side of VAC skullduggery too.

Mad. Mad. Mad.

Meanwhile, there's a backlog of over 40,000 applications to the family visa route, because that also involves more steps than getting nuclear fusion to work.

Every other country just says "come in". Every other country.

The Tories have brought international shame to the UK.

When you think about it, that's the most sickening part of this whole stomach-churning process: the false hope.

We all have eyes and televisions. We know all too well what Ukrainians are facing.

And yet we have a scheme that sees tens (soon hundreds) of thousands wait and wait.

One more thing...

That's a heck of a lot of data being collected, don't you think?

What will happen to it?

Here's a link to the privacy policy. It's 2,332 words long.

Good luck with that!

gov.uk/guidance/homes…

On your way out, why not take a closer look at how the process works in practice, from someone who has been grappling with it today... It is, if anything, grimmer than my potted summary above.

https://twitter.com/munross/status/1504913013568122880

Added: just spotted that it's one complex, time-consuming application per person. So if you're taking in 3 people, that's 3 lots of applications...
homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk

More lunacy...

One of the parties has to trust the other with highly sensitive documents. If you're unwilling to disclose yours to a stranger, better hope they're willing to show you theirs.

This whole process has been designed by an Escape Room fanatic!
gov.uk/guidance/homes…