In February 2024, with only a couple of hours\u2019 notice, the government removed the ability for Ukrainians in the UK to sponsor others fleeing the Russians invasion who wanted a safe place to live. This change also affected the number of people who could host in the UK, with only those who have British citizenship or settled status now being able to sponsor.<\/p>\n
For those who had worked so hard to establish a life in the UK, cruelly snatching away the potential to be reunited with friends and relatives was a bleak precursor to the events of last autumn, when the government paused new applications for the refugee family reunion route.<\/p>\n
Since the launch of Homes for Ukraine, over 280,000 visas have been issued but the future for those still in the UK remains unclear. We celebrated the news that the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme would be extended again, allowing those already in the UK to stay in the country for up to five and a half years, but recent, unpredictable announcements from the Home Office<\/a> are a cause of serious concern. With recent discussion about changes to the route to earned settlement, creating a permanent life here will be close to impossible for those without the guarantee of a stable home.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear to us that while the government\u2019s commitment to those fleeing war, violence, and persecution might waver, there will always be people here ready to go above and beyond and show the best of the UK.<\/p>\n With the war now entering its fifth year, we, alongside our wonderful hosts and supporters, are still doing all we can to ensure those coming to the UK are met with the kindness and respect they deserve.<\/p>\n Throughout 2026 we\u2019ll be celebrating Refugees at Home\u2019s 10th anniversary. In that time, we\u2019ve matched 7,500 guests from over 100 countries with our brilliant community of hosts. Through far-right violence, hostile Home Office policies, and an ever-changing political landscape, our hosts are proof that there will always be people ready to offer a warm welcome to those who need it.<\/p>\n As the war in Ukraine continues, so too does the need for more hosts. We know that there is power in our local communities, and we\u2019d urge anyone looking for a direct way to help refugees, wherever they\u2019re from, to consider opening their home.<\/p>\n In the words of Ihor, one of our Ukrainian guests: \u201cThree years ago we\u2019d never met our host but now we\u2019re like family. We need to help each other because we are all living on the same planet. We are all human.\u201d<\/p>\n Carly Whyborn is chief operating officer at <\/strong>Refugees at Home<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Change a vendor\u2019s life this winter.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week \u2013 and always take the magazine. It\u2019s how vendors earn with dignity and how we fund our work to end poverty.<\/strong><\/p>\n You can also support online with a\u00a0vendor support kit<\/a>\u00a0or a\u00a0magazine subscription<\/a>. Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In February 2024, with only a couple of hours\u2019 notice, the government removed the ability for Ukrainians in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,6332,1144,32636,6658,332,712,16,657,15,1764,771],"class_list":["post-785037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-homelessness","tag-northern-ireland","tag-refugee","tag-refugees","tag-russia","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-war"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116123672579387904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785037","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=785037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}