§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the operation of the visa requirements for visitors from India and Pakistan, giving numbers of applications, refusals, and appeal results since the new arrangements began.
§ Mr. EggarThe visit visa-issuing operation in India and Pakistan continues to run smoothly. The vast majority of applications are processed within 24 hours. For the very small number of cases requiring a further interview, the waiting time is nowhere longer than 10 days.
In the first three months of the visa regime for which full statistics are available, the figures are:
Applications received Visas issued Visas refused India 14,286 13,075 647 Pakistan 10,016 8,698 863 No visit visa appeals have yet been decided. In the first three full months of operation 97 visits visa appeals were lodged in India and 112 in Pakistan.