What is the Homes for Ukraine scheme?

The Homes for Ukraine Scheme is a programme from the UK government which allows UK and Irish citizens, and those with settled status, to sponsor somebody’s visa from Ukraine and host them for a minimum of six months.

Finding a Sponsor

You will be granted 18 months Leave to Remain in the UK with the option of extending your visa when it comes to an end.
You will be provided accommodation for six months in the UK, this might be in someone’s home or in a property they own.
You will be provided access to some social welfare benefits, access to healthcare and to schools.
You will have the right to work in the UK.

How our matching process works

The UK Homes for Ukraine Scheme allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have been invited by a sponsor. A sponsor, sometimes referred to as a host, is a person, a family or a community that can offer you a place to stay and is willing to confirm that in your visa application. The scheme allows Ukrainians to stay in the UK for 18 months with the option of extending your visa when it comes to an end.

Checking your Eligibility

To join the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme, you will need to meet certain criteria as set out by the UK government. You can find their detailed eligibility criteria here.

You will only be eligible for the scheme if:

You are a Ukrainian citizen or a direct family member to a Ukrainian citizen.
You are not already living in the UK.
You are over the age of 18 or you are accompanied by a legal parental guardian*.
You were living in Ukraine on or around 1st January 2022.

* Although the scheme is open to people under the age of 18, they must be sponsored by someone known to their legal guardian already. For this reason, Reset will not match unaccompanied children through our matching service.

Filling in our form

After you have decided to use our services to find your sponsor, you will need to fill in this form. This will give us information about you and those you are planning to travel with to the UK. We will ask questions such as ‘how many people are you?’, ‘do you have any pets?’ and ‘are you smokers?’ This gives us an idea of what you are looking for so that we can suggest the best sponsor for you.

Finding your Sponsor

The people in the UK who are offering to host you through our matching service, (referred to as sponsors or hosts), will have answered similar questions to you in a different form, and they must have attended a short training with our team to make sure this programme is appropriate for them. We look at their form and match it to yours to make sure we provide you with the best fit possible.

We try to offer two sponsors to choose from, however, this may not be possible as we have very few sponsors remaining. You will have five days to consider which sponsor you would like to choose. This is the time to research the area they are living in and see if it is a right fit for you. Be sure to look at our video ‘Getting to know the UK’ if you have not already. You will also be able to see things like the sponsor’s age, gender, type of household, and any other information they may have included about themselves.

Initial meeting with your Sponsor

Once you have chosen your sponsor from the options provided, we will let the sponsor know that you have chosen them. If the sponsor would like to proceed, you will both receive an email to set up an initial meeting with each other. Here, you can ask each other questions and get to know a bit more about who you will potentially be sharing a house with for the next six months or more.

Next Steps

Our direct contact ends after your initial meeting with your sponsor. We’ll give you a range of information and resources on what to do after your initial meeting, but it’s up to you and your sponsor to arrange visas, travel to the UK and settle into your new home.

You can find information on the visa process and travel to the UK by clicking on the links.

You can ask us or your sponsor for more information of what to do while you wait, but you can also view some of our resources below;

View Our Resources

Next Steps

Our direct contact ends after your initial meeting with your sponsor. We will give you a range of information and resources on what to do after your initial meeting, but it is up to you and your sponsor to arrange visas, travel to the UK, and settle into your new home.

You can ask us or your sponsor for more information of what to do while you wait, but you can also view some of our resources below.

View Our Resources

What is the Homes for Ukraine scheme?

Finding a Sponsor

How our matching process works

Next Steps

Next Steps

Get in touch