gov.uk \u2013 <\/a>for older people it is hard for them to do. What would happen if you are without a phone?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Liudmyla](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-28-at-13-29-00-(1).jpeg\")
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Liudmyla in Kyiv, Ukraine (Maria Bondarenko)<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cMy mother was crying when they refused her. She was at the check-in desk maybe for four hours. She was also worried about a place to stay. She said she would sit in the airport and she hadn\u2019t slept the night before because she was on a bus. She was worried about money and I said, \u2018No, don\u2019t worry, we have no choice, we have to get a hotel\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Luckily a volunteer who was helping Ukrainian refugees at Krakow airport was able to help her mother try and link her BRP card with her eVisa account the next day. However, Ms Bondarenko estimates she had to spend an extra \u00a3600 on nights in the airport hotel for her mother, an extra plane ticket, and taxis to the UK consulate in Krakow, which turned out to be closed. <\/p>\n
She also had to spend \u00a316.56 on two calls to the government\u2019s Ukraine visa helpline, which is operated by private company Teleperformance. The helpline is labelled as free on the government website, but can incur costs depending on where you call from. <\/p>\n
Ms Bondarenko booked her mother on a new flight on 26 June to the East Midlands but Ms Karpenko had problems again when she got to the check-in desk. Her eVisa account had automatically translated to Ukrainian on her phone and the airport staff wanted to see it in Polish. <\/p>\n
Ms Bondarenko, who was supporting her mother through speakerphone, said: \u201cThey refused to check her status, they kept saying \u2018show it to us in Polish\u2019. They refused to talk to me. They finally found some girl who was able to understand Ukrainian and they finally said it was alright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andreea Dumitrache, a campaigner at the3million rights group which supports EU citizens in the UK, said: \u201cThis heartbreaking situation highlights the urgent need for the Home Office to recognise the disproportionate impact the eVisa system has on older and vulnerable people. Technology is failing many people like Liudmyla when they need it most.<\/p>\n
![\"Liudmyla](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-07-01-at-13-01-18.png\")
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Liudmyla was refused boarding on her UK-bound flight. (Maria Bondarenko)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shift to eVisas assumes a level of digital access, confidence and literacy that not everyone has. Even for those who can navigate the system, when errors occur, there is no safety net. People are left distressed, isolated and in limbo, despite having the legal right to return to their home in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Home Office spokesperson said: \u201cWhile it is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases, free and practical support is available for vulnerable individuals who need help creating a UK Visas and Immigration account and accessing their eVisa.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiometric Residence Permits are no longer valid for travel to the UK; however, they can still be used to create an eVisa account, even if they have expired.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Ryanair spokesperson said: \u201cAll visa-required passengers travelling with Ryanair must present the correct travel documentation for the country of destination as determined by that country. Ryanair must comply with these rules and airport agents are trained in these visa rules, however it is each passenger\u2019s responsibility to carry valid travel documents. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case the passenger was required to hold a valid UK visa which she failed to present to the agents at Krakow airport and she was correctly denied travel. Once this passenger provided the correct UK visa documentation, she was permitted to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-243137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114807338900615022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-06-28-at-13-30-16-(1).jpeg\")
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