HC Deb 17 October 1994 vol 248 cc48-9W
Mr. Rowe

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, following the European Court of Justice's Surinder Singh judgment in July 1992, he will refund fees to those persons who would have been eligible for gratis visas had the European Court of Justice ruling existed at the time the fees were paid.

Mr. Baldry

[pursuant to the answer on 29 June 1994, 578-791]: The answer should have read: Yes. My Department will consider written applications for a refund of fees from those non-European Union nationals who paid a fee before July 1992 for the settlement visa granted them to enter the United Kingdom with their British citizen spouse who had been exercising substantive rights under the Treaty of Rome, by either working, looking for work, being self-employed or managing a business, in another member state of the European Union. The amount which may be refunded will be between £7 and £100 and will be made up of the value of the fee plus an ex gratis sum in recognition of the time since the fee was paid. Applicants will be asked to provide evidence to support their claim.