13-year-old refugee girl sent back to Ukraine after Home Office refused visa, says Labour MP

Boris Johnson has promised that home secretary Priti Patel will look into the case of a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl forced back into the war zone after the UK government “refused” to process her application.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq told the prime minister that a constituent had tried to provide a home to the 13-year-old girl and her 18-year-old sister – but Home Office bureaucracy had split the family apart.

She said the two Ukrainian sisters had been housed in “dangerous temporary accommodation” in Montenegro for several weeks while waiting to hear if they would be accepted under the UK’s sponsorship scheme.

“The House Office refused to process the application of the younger sister because she is 13 and travelling without her parents, even though she had her 18-year-old sister with her,” the senior Labour MP said during PMQs.

The shadow Treasury minister told the Commons: “The 18-year-old sister is now in London and the 13-year-old sister has been sent back to her hometown in Ukraine, which is under siege.”

She added: “Can the prime minister can he tell me, hand on heart, does he think sending vulnerable children back to a war zone is the right policy?”

Mr Johnson pledged that Ms Patel would examine the case. “I understand her indignation about the case she mentions, and I know that my right honourable friend the home secretary will be looking into it,” he said.

Another Labour MP shouted “shameful!” in the Commons chamber after the case was raised.

Lawyers helping Ukrainian refugees try to reach the UK have warned that many families faced being “split up” under existing visa routes. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a legal guardian to be granted a separate visa.

In the case of the 13-year-old Ukrainian girl, her parents – a doctor and member of the military who wish to stay to help in their nation’s war effort – were not able to make their 18-year-old daughter the legal guardian.

Forced to bring their youngest child back from Montenegro, they have now made a new application to the UK sponsorship scheme based on a series of guardianship documents.

Ms Siddiq later told The Independent the government’s “callous” policy was still not “sophisticated” enough to prevent families from being separated.

“It is frankly disgraceful that our government’s policy appears to be to do nothing for Ukrainian minors travelling without their parents – even when they are accompanied by other adult relatives,” she said.

The Labour MP added: “The government is putting many children in grave danger and forcing them to return to areas that are under constant attack by Russia,” adding that it was time for the PM to “sort it out”.

Although more than 120,000 visas have been issued to those who have fled the Russian invasion, the refugees minister revealed on Tuesday that there are still almost 20,000 Ukrainians waiting for a UK visa application to be completed.

Lord Harrington told the upper chamber that 65,7000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the UK since the start of the war in February. He said 19,000 were still waiting in cases involving “different levels of complexity”.

The minister also refused to say if those fleeing that warzone could be sent to Rwanda if they arrive by routes deemed “illegal”.

The Home Office has doubled the time lone child refugees must wait to join family members in the UK as resources are diverted to processing Ukraine visas, The Independent revealed last month.

The department has increased its service standard for family visas, which include family reunion applications for minors, from 12 weeks to 24 weeks.

Lawyers and campaigners said the increased delays were “not inevitable” and the Home Office could have avoided them by removing “unnecessary red tape” for Ukrainian refugees.