A Ukrainian household set for sanctuary in Perthshire is having to use for full refugee standing in Romania as a result of extended delays to their UK visa software.
Iryna Vekhtieva, and sons Filip and Timofii, are presently sleeping in a church in Galati and have additionally been beneficial to reapply for his or her visa - which might oddly velocity up the method.
Martin and Rebekah Hodson of Auchterarder are in contact with Iryna and her sons, who fled the shelling in Mykolaiv in Could to take refuge within the neighbouring EU nation.
The trio are hoping to stick with the native couple by the nationwide ‘Houses for Ukraine’ scheme having first made contact with them through pals who run the Galati-based place of worship.
Nevertheless, having utilized for his or her visas on Could 4, Martin stated Iryna has heard nothing from the Visas and Immigration Division since a generic e mail acknowledgment on Could 10.
The Ukrainian household had been additionally tasked with travelling almost 250km to a visa software centre in Bucharest handy over extra journey paperwork, however nonetheless no assembly date has been set.
Their deadline for entry to the UK handed on Saturday, July 9 and non permanent asylum granted by Romania ended on July 17, which means they threat being returned to their war-torn homeland.
Nevertheless Martin stated he has been in common contact with Iryna who stated she is making use of for everlasting refugee standing in Romania to present them extra time for his or her UK visa processing.
“Iryna has been in contact with different Ukrainian households whose software has been delayed,” he revealed.
“On Monday she was making use of for refugee standing in Romania which isn’t like a visa so she ought to get that within the subsequent couple of days.
“We known as the visa advisers and so they beneficial cancelling the Could 10 visa software and reapplying.
“Apparently individuals are cancelling their software and reapplying, which suggests it may be handled a lot faster by some means.
“It might be right down to a system error.
“So that's the neatest thing to do which means they'll keep longer in Romania.
“Then we'll see what occurs.”
Martin additionally revealed the refugee centre on the Galati church will shut in August, including additional time pressures for the household.
“The refugee centre will shut in August, however that's nonetheless a couple of weeks away,” he added.
“There are good individuals working the centre, so they won't be left homeless.
“However that's the place we're at actually. 5 minutes on the cellphone beforehand [with an adviser] and we might have had this ironed out.
“However it's best to desert the earlier software and apply once more.”
A authorities spokesperson beforehand said: “Functions are often processed within the order they're acquired, however circumstances differ in complexity.
“The place we're made conscious of an administrative error we additionally act swiftly to make sure individuals have the paperwork they should journey to the UK.”