Visa holders living in the UK under the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes, follow-up survey: 15 April to 22 April 2024

Download this statistical bulletin in Ukrainian (PDF, 891KB). Завантажити цей статистичний бюлетень українською мовою (PDF, 891KB)

• Around 9 in 10 (88%) adults who responded plan to apply for the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, extending their permission to stay in the UK, when their current visa expires.

• When asked to think about a future in which they feel it is safe to return to Ukraine, around 7 in 10 (68%) adults said they wanted to remain living in the UK.

• Over half (60%) of those who want to remain living in the UK said this is because there are more work opportunities in the UK.

• Of those who have experienced difficulties finding work in the UK, half (50%) said this was because their English language skills did not meet job requirements.

• Since first arriving in the UK, around half of all adults (53%) have visited Ukraine; the most reported reasons were to visit friends or family (75%) or to receive medical or dental treatment (64%).

Between March and May 2022, the UK government launched three visa schemes to support those displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These schemes, referred to as Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes, allow those who have lived in Ukraine, and their family members, to apply to stay in the UK for up to three years. More information on the types of visa schemes and collecting the data can be found in Section 9: Glossary and Section 10: Measuring the data.

This latest survey adds to the evidence base of individuals' experiences and needs, which can be used to identify ways to best support this group.

Unless specified otherwise, the weighted statistics in this bulletin are based on respondents who were in the UK at the time of the survey or who were outside of the UK temporarily (for example, on a holiday).

When asked to think about a future in which they feel it is safe to return to Ukraine, around 7 in 10 (68%) adults reported they intend to live in the UK most of the time.

The most reported reasons for individuals wanting to stay in the UK include:

• there are more opportunities for work here (60%)

• I have a job here (52%)

• I have family here (44%)

In contrast, 15% reported they would return to Ukraine, 1% would move somewhere else and 16% do not know.

Of those who said they would live in Ukraine most of the time if safe to do so, over half (56%) said they would return immediately, 14% said they would not return immediately, and 29% said they did not know.

Ukrainian arrivals who have been given permission to be in the UK under one of the Ukraine Schemes, may be able to apply for a further 18 months’ permission to stay in the UK under the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme, due to open in 2025.

Before taking part in the survey, most adults (85%) were aware of the UPE Scheme; 15% were not aware.

Of those who were aware, when asked what they had been intending to do when their visa expired before the UPE scheme was announced, a third (33%) reported they had intended to “apply for a work visa”. The next most reported intention was to “apply for asylum” (14%). Around 3 in 10 adults (28%) were unsure of their intentions.

Of those who were unaware, over a fifth (22%) reported they had intended to "apply for a work visa", and a further group of around a fifth said they had intended to "apply for a family visa" (21%). A third were unsure of their intentions (33%).

All adults were asked whether they would apply for the scheme. Most reported they would (88%) and around 11% reported not knowing if they would.

Since first arriving in the UK, almost half of all adults (47%) had not visited Ukraine. Of these, 8% expect to visit in the next 12 months, with a quarter (25%) not knowing if they would visit in the next year.

Among the 53% who had visited Ukraine since arriving in the UK, most reported their reasons were to visit friends or family (75%), receive medical or dental treatment (64%) or to visit their home or property (34%).

Most Ukrainian adults are very or fairly satisfied with their current accommodation (88%). Over half of all adults (56%) are currently paying for their own accommodation. Less than half (45%) of all adults are currently renting from a private landlord in the UK.

Around half (53%) of all adults reported they do not intend to move address within the next year, and around 28% said they do not know. Among the 19% who do intend to move, the main reasons include:

• for better employment opportunities (30%)

• to live in a different type of accommodation (28%)

Half (50%) of adults have experienced barriers to accessing private rented accommodation since arriving in the UK. The most reported barriers were not having a guarantor or references (49%) and not being able to afford to rent their own property with their income (42%).

Over a third (36%) of all adults, including those already in employment, were actively looking for work. Around 7 in 10 (69%) adults are currently working. Of these, one in five (20%) were working in the hospitality sector (working includes as an employee and self-employed including maternity and paternity leave).

Around a third (34%) of those employed were working in the same sector that they had been in Ukraine, with 19% of these working remotely in the UK for the same role they had in Ukraine.

Half (50%) of all adults, including those already in employment, were experiencing difficulties finding work. The most commonly reported reasons were:

• English language skills not meeting job requirements (50%)

• not being able to find a job that suits their skills (40%)

Of all adults, including those employed, almost 4 in 10 (37%) reported they strongly or somewhat agreed that their English language level limits their ability to take up work in the UK.

Of all Ukrainian adults who have arrived in the UK, most already have a qualification (97%).

Almost a third of adults (31%) were undertaking education or study while in the UK, with 46% of those adults studying towards a qualification.

Of those studying towards a qualification:

• almost a third (31%) are studying for degree-level qualifications or above

• half (50%) intend to use their new qualifications if they return to Ukraine

Of those studying, 8% reported their education or study is run remotely by a Ukrainian institution.

Of those not currently undertaking any education or study while in the UK, most would be interested in doing so while on their Ukraine visa scheme (64%).

Ukraine Family Scheme

The UK government’s Ukraine Family Scheme allows applicants to join family members or extend their stay in the UK, if they were originally only given permission to stay for six months.

Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

The UK government’s Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor (in Wales and Scotland this includes those sponsored directly by the Welsh Government or Scottish Government). 

Ukraine Extension Scheme

The UK government’s Ukraine Extension Scheme allows Ukrainian nationals or close family members of Ukrainian nationals to live, work and study in the UK. They must have held permission to be in the UK between March and May 2022 or have previously held permission that expired on or after 1 January 2022. The Ukraine Extension Scheme does not require a UK-based sponsor.

The Ukraine Extension Scheme closed for most new applications on 16 May 2024. This Scheme will remain open after 16 May 2024 for children of Ukrainian Humanitarian visa holders who are born in the UK to apply for permission to stay.

Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme

The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme is due to open in 2025. This is for Ukrainian arrivals who have been given permission to be in the UK under one of the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes, whose visas have expired or are due to expire. They may be able to apply for another 18 months' permission to stay in the UK under this scheme. 

Survey estimates

The data were collected between 15 April and 22 April 2024. Over 19,500 adults were invited to take part in the survey and 7,594 responded. The response rate was 39%.

Adults invited to take part were those who responded to our previous UK Humanitarian Response Insight Surveys in April or June 2022 or April 2023 and agreed to be recontacted.

Respondents were invited by email and asked to complete the survey online. Questions and answers were presented in Ukrainian and English. For those requiring support, or who wanted to take part by telephone, telephone interviewers and translators were available.

We advise against making direct comparisons between different waves of the UK Humanitarian Response Insight Survey because of question changes.

Percentages in this bulletin are based on weighted counts that are applied to be broadly representative of the population surveyed. They are adjusted to address age, sex, and visa scheme bias in response. As with all surveys, these estimates have an associated margin of error.

The statistics presented in this bulletin are official statistics in development and contain uncertainty; therefore, care needs to be taken when interpreting them.

The main strengths of the UK Humanitarian Response Insight Survey include:

• the timely production of data and statistics that can respond quickly to changes, aiding local and national planning

• quality assurance procedures that are undertaken throughout the analysis stages to minimise the risk of error

• the confidence intervals that are available in the accompanying datasets as an assessment of uncertainty

• responses that have been weighted by age, sex, and scheme to mitigate bias and to allow results to be broadly representative of our study population

The main limitations of the UK Humanitarian Response Insight Survey include that:

• the survey and supporting material were available in English and Ukrainian but not translated into Russian

• it was completed online and while telephone interviews could be conducted in another language upon request, the lack of translation or internet accessibility may have been a barrier for people who did not respond

• the survey was designed in a relatively simple way to encourage response, meaning that not all areas of interest could be covered in depth

• in some cases, groups of applicants (for example, families) had used a single email address on multiple visa applications and only one invitation was sent to each email address; this means that bias was introduced as where applications shared an email address, only one individual would be able to respond to the survey

• weighting reduces non-response bias but cannot eliminate it completely

The survey was compiled rapidly to help inform the UK's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and to aid local and national emergency response planning.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) conducted this survey in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Home Office.