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  6. Information for Ukrainian refugees

Christmas and new year opening times and services

Find out our opening times and service changes over Christmas and New Year holidays. This includes changes to bin collection days, parking and customer contact centre opening hours.

Islington Town Hall will be closed from Thursday 2 to Monday 6 January 2025 for planned maintenance. Registrar services will be reopen on Monday 6 January 2025.

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Before you arrive

Advice on what you should do before you come to the UK from Ukraine.

Changes to the Ukrainian entry schemes

The UK Government has announced that the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Ukraine Extension Scheme are now closed. You can only enter with the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. If you have already arrived on these schemes, you can apply for the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPE) from early 2025.

There has also been some changes to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.

Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme

From early 2025, you will get to apply for an extra 18 months in the UK after your current visa expires if you arrived through any of the original entry schemes. You will keep the same rights and entitlements to work, benefits, healthcare and education that you have now.

To be eligible for the UPE, you will need to prove that the UK is your main place of residence.

Applications for the UPE will open in early 2025 and you will be able to apply within the last three months of your existing visa. That means if you arrived in the UK on 1 April 2022, you should be able to apply for the UPE from 1 January 2025.

The Government will give more information on the UPE later and we will update the information on this page as soon as we get it.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme

People in the UK can sponsor Ukrainian refugees to come to the UK. Visas under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme are for 18 months with full access to public services and benefits system. 

  • The sponsor (host) provides rent-free lodging for at least six months. Sponsors must be British and have the right to live in the UK permanently ("settled status").
  • Visas issued on the Homes for Ukraine scheme are not tied to hosts and refugees can leave their hosting arrangement whenever they like.
  • You will be able to apply for an extension with the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) during the last three months of your 18-month visa, which will allow you to stay for another 18 months.

If you have any questions, queries, or concerns, contact our team at resettlement@islington.gov.uk. You can also find more information from the UK Visas and Immigration team. 

Travel to the UK

When you have got confirmation of your permission to travel by email, you can arrange travel to the UK.

You should pay for your own travel to the UK. Hosts can choose to help with these costs but they do not have. If there are financial issues making it difficult to travel, you may want to contact the Home Office to seek financial support.

Arriving by car

If you arriving by car to the UK and need an Islington parking permit, please contact resettlement@islington.gov.uk. In your email please include:

  • the name of your sponsor
  • which scheme you are using to enter the UK (Homes For Ukraine or Ukraine Family Scheme),
  • the address of the home in Islington
  • car registration
  • a clear request for a parking permit.  

Advice for hosts

Helping guests settle in

  • Show them around your local area. Remember this area will be unfamiliar to them and things that may seem obvious to you will not necessarily be obvious to your guests. You may want to start by ensuring that your guests know where essential places such as supermarkets, shops, GP practices, and hospitals are.
  • You may also wish to show them places they can visit in their free time, such as parks, cafes, and museums.
  • You can learn a few key phrases in Ukrainian. You can use Google Translate [Google Translate] to learn certain words and phrases and apps such as Duolingo to learn the language more generally. You may also wish to make use of the ‘conversation’ feature on the Google Translate app, which gives you close to real-time translation as you converse with someone in different languages.
  • Keep an eye out for community events for Ukrainian refugees. These will be advertised in the monthly bulletins that go out to guests and hosts on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. 
  • Help your guests to apply for their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). Begin the application here [Ukraine Scheme BRP (visas-immigration.service.gov.uk)].
  • Help your guests set up a bank account (see financial support section for further guidance).
  • Help your guests apply for Universal Credit (see financial support section for further guidance).
  • Help your guests sign up to a GP (see healthcare section for further guidance).

Pets coming with guests

Please note that there are rabies quarantine restrictions in place for pets from Ukraine. You can find detailed information about the process of bringing pets to the UK from Ukraine on the government’s pet advice webpage [Bringing your pet to the UK from Ukraine - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)].

These are some organisations which may be useful to those who have pets in need of assistance.

  • Streetvet [A Pet Needs Help - StreetVet] provide free veterinary care for pets of homeless people. They may be able to care for the pets of refugees or signpost to other services.
  • BlueCross [Blue Cross | Pets change lives. We change theirs.] and the PDSA [Saving pets, Changing lives - PDSA] are charities which provide free or reduced cost veterinary care for people with low incomes. Please see their websites for details of who is eligible for their services.
  • Battersea Dogs and Cats Home [Battersea Dogs & Cats Home] are able to take on animals which the owners would like to surrender for rehoming.

Visits and safeguarding checks

The government has set out requirements for visits and checks to take place for sponsors and refugees who have arrived on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. Visits will not take place for those who have arrived by the Ukraine Family Scheme.

Property inspections

Property inspections will be arranged by our property services team to review the basic safety and suitability of your property. You will receive a text outlining the date and time of our visit - please reply to this text should you need to re-arrange the appointment.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks

You will receive an email from our Human Resources (HR) department to start the DBS check. Please follow the information in the email. If you have more questions, please contact HR by emailing recruitment@islington.gov.uk or by calling 020 7527 2155. 

Welcome visits

We will schedule home soon after your guests arrive, to meet both guests and hosts. Different teams from the council will visit, including the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), Refugee and Migrant Service, and Early Help when there are children within the sponsored group.

The council will try to complete this visit within two weeks. Please note that this is a statutory check that we need to complete and we ask that sponsors and guests make sure they are available for this visit.

Further support for both sponsors and guests will be provided by the NRPF and Refugee and Migrant service along with other council services, to provide help in areas such as benefits, employment, education and wellbeing.

 
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