IAS launches free legal advice scheme for Ukrainians after Home Office gives dangerous and misleading advice to refugees

The Immigration Advice Service (IAS) has announced a new scheme that will offer free legal advice to Ukrainian nationals and residents who are both in the UK or attempting to migrate to the UK following the Russian invasion. The free advice scheme has been launched due to IAS's growing concern over incorrect and misleading advice provided to Ukrainians by the Home Office helpline. 

For over a decade, IAS has helped thousands of clients with their immigration issues and strongly believes that everyone should be entitled to reliable, professional immigration, and asylum advice. The new scheme will allow Ukrainian nationals and their family members to make sense of and navigate the constantly changing concessions offered by the Home Office.

Natalie Pashley, Immigration Casework Supervisor at IAS, said:

"A group of lawyers at IAS have volunteered their time to provide this assistance following alarming conversations with a number of clients who had received incorrect, misleading, and often dangerous advice from the helpline set up by the Home Office. Our experience of dealing with the Home Office helpline has been no better, in one phone call I had towards the end of last week, they were not even aware that family members of British Citizens could make a free application, and were still advising people to go to the Kyiv Application Centre, which has been closed for some time now."

The IAS is aware of several examples in which Ukrainian nationals and residents have received incorrect or dangerous advice from the Home Office following Russia's invasion of the country. Recently, the Home Office Ukraine helpline advised a British Citizen, currently in the UK, to travel to Kyiv in order to apply for a visa for his wife. This information was not only incorrect but put this person in an incredibly dangerous situation. They spent several days at the Polish border waiting to leave Ukraine and have so far waited over a week for a decision on what is supposed to be an urgent application.

The free advice scheme that IAS is offering will help to avoid cases like those outlined above. The seriousness of the current situation in Ukraine means that now, more than ever, accurate and helpful immigration advice is needed to ensure the safety of Ukrainian nationals and residents and IAS's experienced immigration lawyers are helping to provide this.