§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the present waiting times until first interview for all categories of applicant in each country and at each post in the Indian subcontinent.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe estimated present waiting times to first interview (in months) are:
Settlement Subcontinent post Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Islamabad 3 3 6 9 Karachi 1 3 4 7 Dhaka 3 6 8 9 New Delhi 0 3 7 10 Bombay 0 4 9 12 Madras 1 1 1 1 Calcutta 1 week 1 week 1 week 1 week Visitors
Due to seasonal high demand, applicants for visit visas in Islamabad requiring a full interview can expect to wait between five and seven days. Elsewhere they are dealt with on day of interview.
Settlement queues are organised as follows:—
Q1 Persons with a claim to the right of abode, dependent relatives over 70 years, special compassionate cases.
Q2 All spouses and all children under 18 years.
Q3 Fiance(e)s and others applying for the first time.
Q4 Re-applicants.
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long a person applying for entry clearance for settlement at the British post in(a) Manila, (b) Accra, (c) Lagos, (d) Kingston, (e) Nicosia, (f) Cairo, (g) Bangkok and (h) Rabat on 31 March or the lastest convenient date could expect to wait for (i) interview, (ii) referral of the case to the Home Office and the requested information being received by the post, (iii) decisions and (iv) an explanatory statement prepared by the post in the event of an appeal against a refusal to be despatched to the immigration appellate authorities in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydAs at 30 June the timings required at (i), (ii) and (iv) were as follows.
The information requested at (iii) is not available. Times vary according to the circumstances of individual cases. Many decisions are made on the day of interview.
Post (i) (ii) (iv) Manila 4 weeks 3 months 5 months Accra 2 days 2 months 3 months Lagos 1 day 3 months 3 months Kingston 4 weeks 2–3 months 1 week Nicosia 1 day 3 months 3 months Cairo 1 day 3 months 1 month Bangkok 8 weeks 2–3 months 2 months Rabat 1–14 days 4 months 3 months
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many(a), men, (b) women and (c) children were waiting in each queue at each post in the Indian subcontinent on 31 March or the latest convenient date.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe number of men, women and children waiting in the settlement queues for interviews in the Indian sub-continent posts at 30 June is:
436W
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Islamabad Men 2 520 83 498 Women 6 405 82 50
Ql Q2 Q3 Q4 Children 9 64 l 45 Total 17 989 166 593 Karachi Men 0 38 9 7 Women 0 53 11 0 Children 0 5 0 0 Total 0 96 20 7 Dhaka 1— 1— 1— 1— Total 351 1,580 214 275 New Delhi Men 0 85 99 64 Women 0 194 142 44 Children 0 44 10 1 Total 0 323 251 109 Bombay Men 0 16 106 74 Women 0 315 125 33 Children 1 139 0 8 Total 1 470 231 115 Madras 1— 1— 1— 1— Total 0 11 0 0 Calcutta 1— 1— 1— 1— Total 0 2 0 0 Totals ISC 370 3,471 882 1,099 1 Breakdown not available. Queue 1. Persons with a claim to the right of abode. Dependent relatives over 70 years old. Special compassionate cases.
Queue 2. All spouses and all children over 18 years.
Queue 3. Fiance(e)s and others applying for the first time 101 settlement.
Queue 4. Reapplicants.
There are no queues for visit applications other than in Islamabad, where due to seasonaly high demand, applicants requiring a full interview can expect to wait 5–7 days.
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long a person applying for entry clearance on 31 March or the latest convenient date at each post in the Indian subcontinent could expect to wait, in each queue, for(a) first interview, (b) referral of the case to the Home Office and the requested information being received by the post, (c) decision after first interview and (d) the explanatory statement prepared by the post in the case of appeal against any refusal to be dispatched to the immigration appellate authorities in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd(a) As at June the estimated waiting times for settlement interviews (in months) were:
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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Islamabad 3 3 6 9 Karachi 1 3 4 7 Dhaka 3 6 8 9
Ql Q2 Q3 Q4 New Delhi 0 3 7 10 Bombay 0 4 9 12 Madras 1 1 1 1 Calcutta 1 week 1 week 1 week 1 week Settlement queues are organised as follows:
Q1 Persons with a claim to the right of abode, dependent relatives over 70 years, special compassionate cases.
Q2 All spouses and all children under 18 years.
Q3 Fiance(e)s and others applying for the first time.
Q4 Re-applicants.
Visit visa applications are dealt with within 24 hours except in Islamabad which, due to seasonal high demand, applicants requiring a full interview can expect to wait five to seven days.
(b) If referred to the Home Office, inquiries concerning applications may take from one to 12 months depending on individual circumstances.
(c) Decisions after first interview are taken within 24 hours in the majority of cases in Indian Sub-Continent posts.
(d) Dispatch times of explanatory statements are, at 30 June:
Settlement Non-Settlement Islamabad 12 weeks 4 weeks Karachi 8 weeks 4 weeks Dhaka 12 weeks 12 weeks New Delhi 12 weeks 4 weeks Bombay 8 weeks 4 weeks Madras 12 weeks 4 weeks Calcutta 4 weeks 4 weeks
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many explanatory statements related to entry clearance appeals were awaiting typing at each post in the Indian subcontinent in Manila, Lagos and Accra, on the latest available date; how many staff are employed, both full-time and part-time, to type statements; and when he expects any backlogs to be cleared.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe information requested is given in the following table, as at 30 June,:
Post Number1 Number2 Islamabad 0 11 Karachi 1 1 Dhaka 176 5(3) New Delhi 41 4 Bombay 4 (11) Madras Nil 1 Calcutta 11 (1) Manila 83 2 Lagos 4 3 Accra 22 1 1 Number of explanatory statements awaiting typing 2 Staff whose duties include typing explanatory statements; staff also employed on other typing duties shown in brackets. The posts in Dhaka and Manila estimate that they should clear the backlogs in three months and two months respectively.