Ukrainian hosts
Offering to sponsor a guest or guests can be a life changing experience for both you and your guests.
To offer to sponsor a guest you must have a separate room, rooms or property that you can host your guests in. You can be living in a rented property, but you must have permission from your landlord or housing provider. The minimum term you can offer to host your guests is 6 months. To become a sponsor you must be a British or Irish citizen or settled in the UK with indefinite leave to remain. If you are not, it may still be possible for you to be a host for guest that already has a visa if you meet the other criteria but you will not be able to sponsor new visa applications.
If you are considering hosting, please get in touch with us and we would be happy to discuss the requirements and support available. Email homesforukraine@elmbridge.gov.uk.
Thank you payment
As a thank you for the support that you offer to your guests, currently, we can make a monthly thank you payment of £600, paid in arrears, per property to help cover any increase in bills that you may incur while hosting. This payment can be made for a maximum of 36 months after your guest first arrived in the UK if they applied for their visa before 19 February 2024.
If your guest applied for their visa after 19 February 2024, their visa length will be granted for 18 months and the thank you payments will continue for this time. These payments can be made providing the accommodation and your sponsorship is approved as suitable for the guests you are hosting.
Guests are entitled to any benefits that a UK citizen would be such as Universal Credit, housing benefits or pension credits. Therefore, you will not be expected to pay for your guests' food, transport or living costs, although you are welcome to contribute to this if you would like to.
If you would like to end your arrangement with your guests, please inform us as soon as possible. If your guests need assistance moving to new accommodation, we ask that you give us two months’ notice to help make arrangements. You can notify us by emailing homesforukraine@elmbridge.gov.uk and we will work together with you and your guests to find suitable alternative accommodation.
Guests moving out
If your guests are looking to move out, then we can support through our Rent Support Scheme by funding the deposit and first month’s rent of their new property. We can also assist with furniture of the new property if it is unfurnished. If all tenants in a property are Homes for Ukraine visa holders, they will also be entitled to a 50% reduction in their Council Tax bill.
Contact us
For an informal chat about what hosting could look like for you or your household or if you are already a host and have comments on how we could support you better please contact us by emailing homesforukraine@elmbridge.gov.uk or call us on 01372 474603.