Refugees "visiting home"

Yes I can understand why they would feel that way

Not for me no. They can live there, it is their own country, who else is supposed to live there? If they leave for a better life fine, but do not dress it up as fleeing, if they then go back.

I understand where you're coming from, OP, and agree to an extent. Maybe not so much with the Ukraine example, but for other places. Going back for visits might, and I stress might, indicate some degree of economic migration in the first instance.

Like I said earlier, people lived in London during the war. It didn’t make it safe. We had Ukrainian guests, they weren’t from the occupied area either, they lived in a ‘safe’ city in central Ukraine. Their city was still bombed. One of her neighbour’s 6 year old daughter was hit and killed in the street, and her mother had her leg blown off.

Whole families can’t flee. Men between 18-60 cannot leave the country. Often their wives choose to stay with them. They feel it’s less scary to remain with their families than leave on their own to go to a new country where they don’t speak the language. Our guest’s DM refuses to leave, despite being begged to. She’s 60 and says “I was born in Ukraine. I’ve never left Ukraine and I’ll die in Ukraine”. She’s just happy that her daughter and grandchildren are safe.

Have you read any of the many posts on this thread, including from people who have actually been in a similar situation, explaining why this is not the case? Do they affect your view at all?

Maybe you are the half-wit if you yourself say they are visiting family yet they also fled the country initially. Course it is to visit family and not a holiday but OP means a visit not a luxury holiday. Although these ones I heard about went via Dubai and had a little break there too.

Yanbu op. If it's safe enough to visit, it's safe enough to move back.

Well as lots of posters have already stated, she's visiting family who she misses in a different part of the country and was in danger where she was originally.

As you have said she works and contributes via her taxes to OUR society so questions about how she affords this are ridiculous.

And all Ukrainians who have been given the visas are on time limited ones as Zelensky specifically asked our Government to do this so that when the war is over they can return and help rebuild so maintaining a relationship to the country is a good thing.

Her brothers and dad can't leave as they are supporting the war effort so I'm assuming you are now not in any more confusion about why people would return to a country on holiday to a less dangerous area but one that still presents a risk that you'd take in order to get a cuddle from your mum/dad once in a while.

Re: the way some are addressing the poster - I think many people react really negatively and emotionally to someone saying something they consider unbelievably heartless. If someone tells me they like kicking puppies for fun, am I going to be polite to them?

The OP begrudging temporary sanctuary here to a teenage girl whose life as she knew it has been turned upside down - that is in the puppy-kicking category.

People who claim asylum in U.K. void their asylum claim by returning to their home country (and can end up being stuck there or in a third country). Ukraine is a different situation, but I would think that other nationalities, such as Afghan, would void their claim by returning.

I was born in Belfast and was barely in school when the IRA blew up the bus station that we used to arrive at when going into the city centre and killed or injured dozens of civilians (Bloody Friday). We legged it to England and my parents took whatever jobs they could get to keep a roof over our heads. But we went back for a couple of weeks most summers because almost all of our family were still there. We avoided going into the city centre. It was a calculated risk, and fairly low. I don’t see this as much different.

And Iranians often get asylum, whereas Ukrainians don't. The systems are different.

Visiting family and leaving them to come back will also include feelings of guilt they are escaping again.

Such a huge gut wrench of feelings and to then face unkindness like some in this thread in host country. They are stronger than I would be.

The confusion is yours.

People aren't misusing the refugee system - the vast majority are accepted, even if it takes an appeal. The number of refugees compared with the number of migrants is very small, and yet people (and politicians) confuse them. If they were allowed to work, asylum seekers would do so, pay taxes and not claim the pittance to which they are entitled.

As I pointed out I don't get my facts from YouTube. So asking a genuine question is ignorance then? Funnily enough I thought asking questions and getting answers was the way to learn about any given thing. Suppose I shouldn't have expected that on here though🙄

Seemingly not. I mean, what the actual fuck?

Exactly, too many people wanting to be 'open-minded' swing the other way. Accepting anything refugees do without question.
Coming from a developing country personally, many people want to move for a better life, it's not inconceivable to use whatever route available. Not everyone is 'forced to flee on pain of death'.

My Iranian neighbours can't go back to their country because its too dangerous for them so they need to meet up with family in Germany. That's what I call being in real danger.

Do you understand the difference between stereotyping all Russian men as rapists, and accurately reporting that the Russian army has a history of using rape as a weapon of war - as is well documented, and as many other armies all over the world have done?

Agree re your comment about stereotyping.

Some of the posts on this thread disgust me.

Last couple of days; this morning - Lviv, 7 killed, including a baby. A BABY!

Poltova, yesterday, death toll has risen to 53 and the rescue efforts are ongoing.

24 hours in Ukraine.

Put yourself in the place of someone who has left family behind. Go on. Use your imagination. These photos are from this last 24 hours.

It involves some unsavory border crossing practices which is between him and Ukrainian border control. I hear they are tightening it at the moment so who knows how long he will be able to do it for.

A colleague’s mum came here from the Ukraine for safety. She receives her pension from the Ukraine government and returns for dental and health treatment as she says it is far superior than here. so life, of some sort does continue. However, her son, can’t leave and is waiting to be called up, her village is at risk and she is currently staying with a friend out in the countryside there. I’m not sure if and when she will return to the U.K. as ultimately her life was there. Very sad.

That last part made me cry.

“They would rather die together than live apart”

I don’t have a firm opinion. I certainly would not return to a war zone I had fled for my life.

There is a discussion to be had but not on this forum.

I notice that disagreement with the OP is quite insulting towards her and others with words like ‘absolute halfwit’ being bandied around.

It also interests me how it is allowable to stereotype men from one region as rapists when if they lived here as immigrants stereotyping them would be not allowed at all.