States Backs Move To Welcome More Ukrainian Relatives

Ministers have been directed to work with the UK Home Office to allow more Ukrainian refugees with Jersey relatives to the island.

States Members have voted unanimously to work to extend the range of islanders' relatives who can seek safety here, and give them the the right to live here for at least a year.

Deputy Jess Perchard brought a proposition to the Assembly, asking for the eligibility criteria for Ukrainian relatives feeling the conflict to be widened.

When she lodged it, only 'close family members' qualified.  It has since been broadened to 'extended family members' to include parents, grandparents, adult children and siblings.

That visa policy is set by the UK Home Office and applies to the island.

Deputy Perchard argued that there should be a Jersey-specific solution.

She gave an example, where the Ukrainian sister of a Jersey resident would have been granted a visa to come here, but not her two children.

"From a humanitarian perspective, my view is that anyone fleeing this war with relatives who are Jersey residents should be able to seek sanctuary in the arms and homes of those Jersey relatives.

It should not matter if those Jersey residents are British, or Ukrainian or other nationals.  If they have family members fleeing Ukraine, we should be helping them to get here.  Jersey residents are our people. I don't care what their passport says.

If anyone who lives or works in Jersey has a sister, a mother, a brother, a niece, an aunt...who is displaced by this terror, we should be helping them to reach their family.

Traumatised people need to be with people they love. People they trust. They need to be with their family"

"The proposition asks Ministers to make this position clear, and do whatever they can to uphold it.  It's not a guarantee, because it can't be.

Rightly or wrongly, we don't have the autonomy we need to make these decisions ourselves. Maybe this is something we will want to discuss in the future. Right now, I am interested in using the tools we have to urgently help people in this emergency situation."

Deputy Jeremy Macon amended the proposal to include requesting Ministers to make arrangements for the longer-term settlement of any Ukrainian people that temporary visas are issued to, make appropriate language services available to them, and to outline the cost implications.

His approach was endorsed by External Relations Minister Senator Ian Gorst, who described it as 'very helpful'.

"We must be clear... there are some family members for whom it is simply a visa issue, and we are working with them to resolve those, and they can provide both accommodation and financially for those family members that will now find there way here. 

... We already know that some of those seeking to come to our community - and we welcome these individuals as well - will require accommodation and will require financial support.

Let us not, when they arrive, be unwelcoming in the provision of accommodation and finances.  If we are really committed to standing with Ukraine and playing out part, then we must provide for them in this way."