Talented musician, 17, stuck in Russian occupied area after British government policy change on travel rules
A talented 17-year-old violinist living on the frontline in south-easthas been left waiting three months for a British visa, revealing serious flaws in government promises to help unaccompanied children.
The issue was supposed to have been resolved last month after the government announced that it would allow a safe passage to the UK forBut small print in the policy reveals that most will not be eligible as it says lone children should already have known their hosts before war broke out, unless in “exceptional” circumstances.
She said she had “dreamed of being in a big orchestra” since she was young and that the “massive destruction” of her home town meant her dream would be hard to realise unless she left. Both Belsham and her husband, Giampaolo Martinelli, 54, have extensive background checks as she works with refugees and Martinelli is a cardiac anaesthetist. They have 17-year-old triplets and a 19-year-old son at university.
Anastasiia’s parents, who look after four adopted children with health needs and cannot leave, do not want her to go without the visa. Without the certainty of a host family, they worry about her travelling elsewhere inBefore the war, Anastasiia attended music school and practised for five or six hours a day. Now she says she struggles to, because she is often sheltering in the basement of their home and helping to care for her adopted siblings.
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