§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process958W applications for indefinite leave to remain submitted by people admitted for settlement as the fiancé(e)s of British citizens was in the last 12 months. [64151]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 24 June 2002]: Information on decision times for individual types of general immigration applications is not available. Our aim is to decide straightforward applications within three weeks and this was achieved during the first half of 2001. Due to an exceptionally large increase in the number of immigration cases in the latter part of the year the turnaround time increased. This has now been reduced to four weeks and we are working to return performance to three weeks shortly.
Information on initial decisions is published quarterly. The next publication will cover the period up to June 2002, and will be available from 30 August 2002 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he changed the advice on his Department's website that applications by people admitted as fiance(é)s for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom, would be dealt with in six weeks; what the reasons were for that change; and if he will make a statement. [64152]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 24 June 2002]: The information on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website reflects the current average length of time between the receipt of all postal immigration applications in Croydon and their initial consideration. In early March the average length of time quoted on the website was changed to six weeks. This was changed to five weeks at the beginning of May and to four weeks at the beginning of June. These changes reflect the improvement in initial processing times over recent months towards the target of three weeks.