Updated Immigration Advice for Ukrainians and their families.

We understand that many people across Greater Manchester will be directly affected by the situation in Ukraine. This page has been created to be updated weekly with new changes to U.K immigration advice.

Bury and Bolton Immigration Advice Service provides immigration & asylum advice to everyone. All advice is initially free. To find our more information, visit their website linked above. Or call on 01204 372172 (lines are open Monday — Friday 10am — 12pm and 2pm — 4pm). If you want to make a referral, you can fill out a form here.

09/03/22

Update to the family scheme:

The scheme has been updated and the type of extended family members who can apply has been enlarged to also include a sponsor’s:

• Aunt or uncle
• Niece or nephew, cousin
• Mother-in-law or father-in-law
• Grandparent-in-law
• Brother or sister-in-law

This means that if you have a client who is a Ukrainian national here on a family visa — the spouse of a British citizen for example — their partner will now be able to sponsor their Ukrainian family members. Ukrainians in the UK on other time limited visas (such as work/study) are still not inclcuded in this scheme.

To find out more head to: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-ukraine-family-scheme-visa

Temporary visa concessions

Temporary visa concessions have been introduced for family members of British nationals who usually live in Ukraine and Ukrainian nationals in the UK. For the latest information please visit: https://bit.ly/3Mh0Wwh or contact your local Citizens Advice if you need further support.

Family members:
In addition to the original concessions for family members, the announcement outlined further support for Ukrainians fleeing Russian invasion.

The concessions for family members are now:

• Fees for family migration visas will be waived.
• Family members of both British citizens and people settled in the UK are eligible.
• Family members can now include parents, grandparents, adult children and siblings in addition to the usual partners (that is spouses and unmarried partners who have lived together for 2 years) and children under 18.
• These additional extended family members can also bring their immediate family members with them. For instance a sibling will be able to bring their partner and children under 18.
• English language and minimum income requirements will be waived and there will be documentary flexibility.
• If requirements are not initially met applicants will be given 12 months leave when they will be able to work and claim benefits.

Visa application centres are currently open in Lviv, Poland, Moldova, Romania and Hungary. A ‘pop-up’ application centre was also announced in Rzeszow in Poland.

For guidance on the concession to the Immigration Rules for Ukrainian nationals on family routes, head through to the gov.uk website.

Ukrainians already in the UK:

For Ukrainians already in the UK, on work and study routes, you can now:

• Switch into a work or study category, where that would not normally be permitted.
• Switch into a family category, even if they have limited leave- for instance as a visitor, or where their leave has recently expired.

For more information visit, the gov.uk website.

If you are Ukrainian or know someone that is, and needs free UK immigration advice, please contact ukraine@freemovement.org.uk- (mail to:ukraine@freemovement.org.uk). Head to -https://advice-ukraine.co.uk/?mc_cid=f8b73e7a38&mc_eid=UNIQID.

Citizens Advice Greater Manchester provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. Our aim is to provide the advice people need for the problems they face.