LONDON: British couples who have adopted children in Pakistan are suddenly stuck in the country due to delays in visa processing due to the Ukraine refugee crisis, the Guardian reported.
The British newspaper found that Home Office visa delays were part of “widespread failures” in processing, preventing adoption families around the world from returning to the UK.
A British man who has been trapped in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi since November told the newspaper: “It’s 37 degrees Celsius, there’s a lack of gas and water, and electricity is off for several hours a day. There is a risk of kidnapping and political instability here. Because of this I am afraid to go out.
“I’ve been here since November. It took three weeks to get our baby, then we applied for his visa on January 18. Initially, the Home Office told us it would be 12 weeks – that was 21 weeks ago.
“My older son misses nursery, my husband is at work in the UK, my father is sick and I can’t keep up with him, and my employer wants to know when I am back.
“I can’t put into words how difficult it is. I’m so stuck, and the home office isn’t responding. I’m probably talking to a tree, too. We’ve made at least five complaints, and Other families with a similar situation have also made several complaints,” she said.
Sixteen weeks after applying for a visa for her adopted child, she received a letter from the Home Office stating that waiting times for family visas were expected to double.
It said: “Due to the humanitarian crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine, UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) is prioritizing applications for the Ukraine Visa Scheme. We therefore decided to temporarily revise our standard of marriage and family service is… 12 weeks to 24 weeks.”
Since the UK does not have a bilateral adoption agreement with Pakistan, British families or individuals seeking adoption, with the safe legal guardianship of the child before traveling back to the UK to formalize the process.
The Department of Education investigates potential adoptive parents, but the Home Office is responsible for visas.
Satwinder Sandhu, chief executive officer of the Center for Adoption, told the Guardian: “We have many families waiting months longer than ever before, and we understand that the Ukraine war put a lot of pressure on an already fragile system Is.
“For adopters who are legally approved and whose children have been placed, visa applications should be fairly non-competitive. All children in need of adoption have experienced trauma, isolation and loss, and should be able to travel to their new homes in England without delay.”
The adoptive mother the Guardian spoke to said: “Our children have gone through the trauma of being separated from their original parents, and we need to get out of this situation.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are prioritizing the Ukraine Family Plan, and applying to Ukraine in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, so the study, Applications for work and family visas have taken a long time to process.
“UKVI is working to reduce the current processing time as quickly as possible.”