HC Deb 20 November 1986 vol 105 cc291-2W
39. Mr. Loyden

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visas have been issued since 1 October.

Mr. Waddington

The information available centrally is as follows: 670 visas for entry to the United Kingdom were issued to Sri Lankan citizens in Sri Lanka in October 1986. Provisional information available so far indicates that some 10,600 entry certificates and visas for visitors, students and transit passengers were issued in the period 28 September to 24 October to applicants in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria.

51. Mr. Marlow

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the effects on immigrants of the introduction of the visa system for the Indian subcontinent.

Mr. Waddington

The new visa requirements are an administrative arrangement. They affect mainly people seeking entry as visitors and students who are citizens of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan as well as Ghana, and in due course Nigeria, by moving the point at which a decision is made on their claim to admission from the ports of entry to our missions abroad.