MORE than 15 Ukrainian refugees were left angry after authorities failed to show up for confirmed visa appointments.

Refugees from Bath, Winchester, and Wiltshire travelled to their appointments at Cumberland Place in Southampton on Sunday.

While they were hoping to receive a new stamp on their passport and a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), they were instead greeted by an empty facility.

The refugees, who escaped Russia's invasion of their home country amid missile strikes, felt they had no choice but to wait.

Livdmyla Kanarian, 36, left Dnipro in Ukraine in March with her nine-year-old son.

The pair have since found a new home in the Southampton area.

Livdmyla was due to receive a new three-year visa, but she was 'disappointed' and 'angry' after authorities failed to show up.

READ MORE: More than 100 Ukrainian refugees being housed in Southampton

She told the Daily Echo: "Many people came from different areas, some came from the Isle of Wight, Bath, or Winchester.

"They all spent money to be here today. Some even paid £100 for their travel. Who will compensate them?

"It was very hard to book our appointments, and now we can't book new slots for June and July as they are all full."

The mother-of-one plans to visit the office next week and demand an explanation.

Also in the frustrated crowd at the weekend was 40-year-old Marianna Holub, who had a 3.30pm appointment.

The 40-year-old is staying with her sponsor family in Newbury.

She said: "To be honest the whole process is inadequate.

"For someone like me who has left a warzone, I was hoping for better treatment.to

"They could have sent us a message saying that the appointment had been cancelled, but they didn't."

She even received a text message from the officials reminding her about the appointment.

Jim Hynes has been sponsoring two refugees since April 29 in north Wiltshire.

He said: "It has been incredibly difficult to get these appointments, and we are very disappointed.

"The UK immigration system is so shambolic and horrendous.

"We all had pre-booked appointments and numerous officials were supposed to be here to help."

Jim said that he phoned every number for the Home Office and the Ukrainian helpline he could find. However, he managed to get through to only two people in the office, who asked him to call them on Monday instead.

The refugees left after seeing no-one.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We apologise for the poor experience these people had.

"We are working with our commercial partner Sopra Steria to understand what went wrong and ensure it does not happen again.”

Anyone affected will be offered new appointments this week and reimbursed for any expenses, on top of a goodwill payment.

IT service management firm Sopra Steria runs the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services.

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