France wants Britain to resolve a visa blockade that is preventing some Ukrainian migrants from entering the UK through Calais, describing the situation as ‘inhumane’ in a statement by France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin.
In Darmanin’s account, 150 of the 400 Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the northern French port after the Russian invasion could not enter the United Kingdom. The applicant mentioned that the visa application would be processed in Paris or Brussels. Darmanin said he had urged UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to open a special consulate in Calais to handle the documents.
Deputy Foreign Minister Darmanin wrote to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to urge her to provide a professional consular office in Calais. He said the British government’s reaction had been ‘completely unsuitable’ and showed a ‘lack of humanity’ toward refugees who were often ‘in distress’.
Darmanin wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Agence France-Presse, that ‘it is imperative that your consular representation – especially and for the duration of this crisis – can issue visas for reunification on the spot in Calais’.
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