Mishcon de Reya Partner Maria Patsalos was interviewed by the BBC on the Government’s process of granting visas to Ukrainian refugees following the Russian invasion.
Speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Maria talked about the firm’s efforts to help Ukranian families attain UK visas, the effectiveness of the Government’s efforts to date and what can be done to help speed up the approval process.
Maria commented: “Sadly, at the moment, we’ve only had one visa approved, and that’s for a young girl. Her mother’s visa has yet to be approved and it is taking some time, which is obviously problematic because they cannot come to the UK without both of the visas being granted. We understand that the Government has a hard job processing so many visas so quickly. However, we think that some of the red tape can be circumvented so that these urgent applications can be processed as quickly as possible.”
The segment starts at 21.25 minutes – watch now.
Mishcon de Reya is one of the founding members of the Ukraine Justice Alliance, a coalition of lawyers, law firms and NGOs that have formed an alliance to support Ukrainians in response to the catastrophic invasion of their country, including providing immigration assistance. Find out more.