A north-east man is desperately waiting for news after his Ukrainian wife was sent to her homeland to sort out her visa – just days before the invasion.
Peter and Natalya Fisher had been hoping to secure a spousal visa from their home in Boddam, near Peterhead.
But the Home Office warned that if Mrs Fisher’s existing visa ran out, she would be declared an “illegal alien” and that any future applications may be affected if she overstayed her current visa.
She went back to her family in the city of Dnipro just three days before Russia invaded.
Since then, she has been texting her husband updates outlining the dire situation – with many trains from Lyiv cancelled, or passengers fighting.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Mr Fisher has described how afraid he is for his wife’s safety.
He said: “Our plan was always for Natalya to get a spouse visa after her visitor visa ran out, but that costs £3,300, and we were saving up.
“But we got a letter from UK Visas and Immigration on February 17 that told us Natalya would soon be considered as an illegal alien, from April 28, when an extension to her visitor visa ran out.
“So we had Boris Johnson on one hand telling us Russia was on the brink of invasion and the immigration services telling us we had to get over there or we’d be jeopardising future applications. It was upsetting and confusing.”
‘If planes were still getting to Ukraine, she’d have to go’
Mr Fisher claimed the couple had been told she could not obtain the visa from home, and “if planes were still getting into Ukraine, she would only be able to apply from there.”
While the couple had kept an eye on the developing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, they didn’t believe Putin would launch a full-scale invasion.
He added: “We made a huge mistake, as he did invade – just two days after Natalya got there – and it has been living hell since then.
“She was sending me back photos of people in Dnipro making petrol bombs, including her own family. That was not the type of update on her trip that I had foreseen.”
Mrs Fisher has travelled to gridlocked Lviv and plans to cross the Hungarian border to eventually get back to Peterhead.
Her husband is packed and ready to go and meet her as soon as she’s clear of Ukraine.
He told the Record: “I’m not panicking because she’s done everything right, and she seems to be on the way home.
“But Ukraine is a volatile place all of a sudden, and I will believe it when I see it. I can’t wait to see her again.”
After meeting through a dating agency back in 2020, the pair got married in Odessa last June. Since Christmas, Mrs Fisher had been staying in the UK on a visitor visa while the pair saved up for a spouse visa.
Mr Fisher, a driver for Autoglass, added: “Our decision for Natalya to go back was very much influenced by the feeling that if she became an ‘overstayer’ now it could wreck her future spouse visa application.
“The UK Visas and Immigration advice was so unhelpful, as they pushed us into making what turned out to be a terrible decision.”
Bounced from department to department
In the lead-up to Mrs Fisher’s trip to her homeland, the couple claims they were bounced around UK government departments in an attempt to secure a visa without returning to Ukraine.
In a letter from the UK Visas and Immigration department, Mrs Fisher was told she would be allowed to stay until April 28.
It added: “During this time, you will not be regarded as an overstayer or suffer any detriment in any future applications.
“However, you must make plans to leave the UK prior to the date that your assurance expires. If you do not leave on or before this date, you will be classed as an overstayer.”
After being “held over a barrel” and fearing that their future in Scotland was in jeopardy, they decided that she would fly out to Ukraine to obtain a visa.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that British nationals residing in Ukraine would be allowed to apply for relatives to come back to the UK with them.
It also extended to Ukrainians living in the UK now.
The move has been slammed by opposition politicians who believe the conditions fall short of addressing the crisis facing Ukrainian citizens.
Other countries in the EU have unilaterally decided that all Ukrainian citizens fleeing the conflict will be able to stay for three years before needing to apply for a visa.
Ms Patel said that concerns of extremists and Russian agents have prevented her from waiving visa restrictions.