GovWire

Overview

There are different schemes in place to support Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members who wish to either come to or remain in the UK.

Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

If you have been given permission to be in the UK under one of the Ukraine schemes, you may be able to apply for a further 18 months permission to stay in the UK under the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme. The scheme will open to applications on 4 February 2025.

Ukraine Family Scheme

The Ukraine Family Scheme closed at 3pm on 19 February 2024. It allowed eligible Ukrainian nationals to join family members or extend their stay, in the UK.

Those who were granted permission under the Ukrainian Family Scheme can live, work and study in the UK and access public funds for up to 3 years.

If you intend to join a settled family member in the UK who is able to accommodate you, you may be eligible to apply under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.

Other visas you may apply for

You may be eligible to make an application under other immigration routes.

Check which visas you may be able to apply for.

Awaiting a decision from outside the UK

If you applied from outside the UK before the Ukraine Family Scheme closed, youll need to wait for a decision from UK Visas and Immigration on your application before travelling to the UK.

You must attend an appointment at a visa application centre to prove your identity by having your fingerprints and photograph taken (biometric information).

If your application is approved, youll need to return to a visa application centre to collect your visa before you travel to the UK. This visa will allow you to board a plane or other form of transport to the UK.

If you attended your biometrics appointment in Kyiv and your visa application is successful, you will be contacted by the supplier to collect your visa vignette.

Do not go to the visa application centre to collect your visa until you have been contacted.

If you delayed providing your biometric information and you are travelling to the UK with family members who had to attend a visa application centre to provide their biometric information, they will need to collect their visa from the same visa application centre before starting their journey. Otherwise they will not be able to travel to the UK.

If your application is successful

Youll need to create an account to get an eVisa (an online record of your immigration status) once you arrive to the UK. Your decision email or letter will tell you how toget access to your eVisa.

Youll be able to prove your immigration status and conditions to others, for example employers and landlords, using the view and prove service.

How long it takes to get a decision

We will start processing your application once youve applied online, proved your identity, and provided your documents. We aim to make a decision as quickly as possible.

Travelling with a permission to travel letter

If you did not use the UK Immigration: ID check app or attend a visa application centre, you may have been issued with a permission to travel letter to allow you to travel to the UK.

Permission to travel letters issued without accompanying digital status are valid for travel to the UK until 12:01am UK time on 13 February 2025. If you arrive after this date with a permission to travel letter, you may be refused entry to the UK and removed.

If you travel before 12:01am UK time on 13 February 2025, you must present your permission to travel letter with your passport to a UK immigration officer on arrival at the UK border. They will then decide whether to allow you into the UK to stay for 6 months.

Providing biometric information in the UK

You need to apply to provide your biometric information within 6 months of arriving in the UK if you did not use the UK immigration: ID check app or if you did not attend a visa application centre

You will then be able to stay in the UK for up to 3 years.

You do not need to do this as soon as you reach the UK, but you do need to make sure that you have applied to provide your biometric information before the 6 months ends. You will be told how to do this in your decision letter.

Apply to provide your biometric information in the UK

You can start the application to provide your biometric information by completing theonline form.

Start now

You will then book and attend an appointment at UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) service point.

UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) service points

You will need to provide your fingerprints and a photograph (biometric information) at a UKVCAS service point.

Children under the age of 5 will not have their fingerprints taken but will still need to attend the UKVCAS service point and have a digital photograph taken.

Some services at UKVCAS service points have a fee. You do not need to use these services, such as document scanning, to complete your application.

If you want to use of any of these services at a UKVCAS service point during your appointment, you will not need to pay a fee for them and you should not pay for them in advance.

Booking appointments for you and your family members

For group appointments of up to 5 members, please follow the normal appointment booking procedure. You will have the option to book an appointment as a group and will need to enter required details from each group member.

For group appointments of 6 members or more, please contact the TLS customer service team, by selecting Large group appointments on the TLS Contact Us page.

If there is more than one application linked to the same email address, you will need to provide the unique application number (UAN) for each application you want to book an appointment for.

A UAN is a unique 16-digit code (format xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx) that each person gets once they have made their online application to extend their stay in the UK.

We cannot guarantee that appointments will be available for all family members on the same date.

Awaiting a decision if you applied from inside the UK

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