NICOLA Sturgeon has announced that the Scottish Super Sponsor Scheme for Ukrainian refugees has received more than 1000 applications.
The mechanism, which opened on March 18, allows for refugees to choose the Scottish Government as their sponsor when applying to the Homes for Ukraine scheme if they cannot name a host.
The news comes as three welcome hubs have been set up around Scotland for Ukrainian refugees arriving in the country.
Scottish Government minister, Neil Gray, said Scotland would be their home “for as they long as they need it to be”.
The hubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cairnryan, will provide hot meals, translation services and trauma support for those who have just arrived.
Gray, the minister with special responsibility for refugees arriving from Ukraine, spoke to Holyrood’s Constitution Committee on Thursday.
READ MORE: Ukrainian orphans welcomed to Scotland by Nicola Sturgeon
He said: “We have chosen to act as a super-sponsor to short circuit the matching process and enable significant numbers of displaced Ukrainians to come to Scotland without unnecessary delay.
“To prepare for that we have established welcome hubs to support displaced Ukrainians arriving into Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Cairnryan – where all those who need it will find safe and comfortable accommodation and a hot meal, and where local partnerships are already in place to make an assessment of need for additional services.”
He said the Government was working “flat out” to secure temporary and longer-term accommodation for those who need it.
Gray added: “As the First Minister said at the weekend, we will treat people with compassion, dignity and respect and Scotland will be their home for as they long as they need it to be.”
Earlier, the committee heard from a number of charities which work with refugees.
Andy Sirel, legal director of JustRight Scotland, said the UK’s visa-based schemes were “long, bureaucratic and fundamentally insufficient”.
READ MORE: Ukraine war: Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls for worldwide demonstrations
The latest data showed that showed that out of 66,000 applications for the Ukrainian visa schemes, 15,800 visas had been granted, he said.
This amounts to just 0.4% of those who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, he added.
He said: “Most importantly, the eligibility criteria that (the schemes) have are quite strict.
“They do not capture individuals who are already in the UK for example, in precarious situations and who are concerned about their family members.”
Graham O’Neill, of the Scottish Refugee Council, said: “People are being traumatised by that visa-based response, as we’re seeing in the horror stories of delay across Europe and elsewhere.”
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