Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has criticized the “bureaucratic” nature of the visa system, saying his own wife is having trouble getting her documents.
Vadym Prystaiko told a committee of MPs that he understood the government had a “strict immigration policy”.
But he said the system had been a “problem” for a “long, long, long time”.
Mr Prystaiko appealed to MPs to temporarily lift visa requirements for Ukrainians to allow refugees to leave the country if Russia invades.
The government has come under fire for the limited number of visas it has issued to war refugees.
As of Wednesday morning, the number stood at 700, although the UN said over two million people had fled the country.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Britain would speed up the pace of admissions for Ukrainians.
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Appearing before the Internal Affairs Committee, Mr Prystaiko was questioned about reports of difficulties for Ukrainians in accessing visa application centers in Calais.
But the ambassador said problems with such centers are “the problem we had … with you [from] a long, long, long time ago, even before the war”.
He said the old system was that Ukrainians could get UK visas from a center in Kyiv, but added: “[As] the largest nation in Europe by area, even traveling to a certain place was a problem.”
Mr Prystaiko said the government then moved the center to Poland and then to the UK.
“Visa processing has always been bureaucratic,” he said. “Even when I came here as ambassador, I got my visa on time [but] Although I have already been approved by your government, my wife has not [hers].
“Well even [with] such simple things [the] Bureaucracy is so hard.”
But the ambassador said he hoped things could change when it came to the war, if only for a short time.
Mr Prystaiko said more than seven million people have now been displaced as a result of the war with Russia.
And while he said few Ukrainians want to move from their “natural homeland” near “Slavic tribes” in Eastern Europe and the government hopes to welcome them home soon to “rebuild,” he asked MPs whether they could “vote for some temporary exemption from the rules for us so that people can come here”.
He told MPs he knew immigration was a “very sensitive” issue in the UK and any changes were “frankly for you to decide”.
But he added: “I would be happy if all barriers would come down for some time if we can get maximum people then we will take care of that and my message is here to help.”
Tory MP Tim Loughton – who sits on the committee – expressed his own frustration with the Home Office over delays and accused the Department of being “quite slow”.
He added: “Some of us would like the Home Secretary to send in some planes… and bring back planeloads of mainly mothers with young children and then sort out the bureaucracy and paperwork in the UK.”
But the ambassador instead referred to Ukraine’s appeal to NATO to introduce a no-fly zone over the country, replying: “If you want to send planes, send F16s.”
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