Refugees arriving at Warsaw Central Station told the Guardian they were confused by UK government rules requiring them to find a sponsor in Britain before they could apply for a visa, which can take weeks to process. No one said they knew anyone in the UK who could grant them. “I think it’s very complicated,” said Katerina Ilasova, who fled her hometown of Poltava after the invasion began. “I have heard many positive things about Britain. But for me it is very complicated. “So people sign up to go to other countries that are easier to reach.” Alyona Vinohradova, right, with her daughter, Kamila, and Terri Shanks, her British host. “I do not know why we can not bring them on a tourist visa,” says Sanks. “The Spaniards are picking them up and worrying about the bureaucracy later.” Photo: Mark Rice-Oxley / The Guardian Ivan Yakovlev, who left Dnipro before working in Georgia before the war, wanted to come to Britain because of the language. “I speak English, my wife speaks English. it will be good for us, simpler to find a job there. But I do not know what to do. I have nothing to do with it. “ A small group of Britons set up a bench inside Warsaw Station to explain the rules to refugees and advise them on how to apply. They had a handful of hits matching the Ukrainians with the British sponsors, but their efforts have diminished their efforts from those of a Spanish group on a neighboring bench, which helped more than 1,000 Ukrainians begin their journey to Spain by arranging for free. transporting and hosting at the other end. “The bottleneck is the visa system and the matching of refugees with hosts,” said Ed Pinkney, a British researcher based in Hong Kong who has been volunteering at the station for two weeks. “I am disappointed because I am wasting time that could have been given to the immediate needs of the Ukrainians,” he said. “The logic we had to do was to take them to the UK and do any checks there.” Some optimists are lucky. Alyona Vinohradova was lucky enough to fall for Terri Shanks, a woman from Berkshire who was in Poland for work. Shanks offered to host Vinochrandova, her husband and their 11-year-old daughter, Camilla, as soon as the family’s application was processed and their visa approved. “I do not know why we can not bring them on a tourist visa,” says Sanks. “The Spaniards are picking them up and worrying about the bureaucracy later. We do not seem to be doing that. “It’s ridiculous when he’s waiting for a house.” “I think it is very complicated,” Vinohradova said. “I think the United Kingdom ensures that not all Ukrainians come.” Even those like Vinohradova who have been lucky enough to find a British sponsor will probably have to wait weeks for their visa to be processed. The British government stands out from its European neighbors, who all offer Ukrainian refugees visa-free travel. “Since I was a child, I dreamed of going to England,” said Anna Lazareva, from Sumy in eastern Ukraine, who says she managed to find a sponsor on a Facebook group. Now he is waiting in Warsaw. “Four days have already passed. I hope I do not have to wait much longer. “
