§ Fiona MactaggartTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for each British198W post abroad which operates a pre-sift system for people applying for visit visas, how many people (a) were advised to withdraw their applications and (b) followed that advice in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003 up to the latest date for which figures are available. [104412]
§ Mr. RammellWe do not record the number of applicants who are advised to withdraw their application at the pre-assessment stage. To ask Posts to provide this information now would require them to carry out a manual search of their records. This could be done only at disproportionate cost. However, it is now our policy to minimise the use of pre-assessment.
The number of applications actually withdrawn at Posts operating a pre-sift/assessment from 2001 is set out in the following table.
199W
January 2001 to March 20011 April 2001 to March 20022 April to December 20023 January 2003 Abidjan 0 0 0 0 Abu Dhabi 24 305 165 0 Abuja 101 569 0 0 Accra 2,176 12,107 7,224 23 Addis Ababa 16 62 23 20 Algiers 590 0 1,204 0 Almaty 0 0 0 0 Amman 98 756 — — Amsterdam 13 78 12 3 Ankara 3 0 0 — Antananarivo — 0 — 0 Ascension/St. Helena4 — 0 — — Ashgabat — 0 0 — Athens — 10 30 1 Bahrain 3 129 6 0 Baku — 0 0 0 Bamako — 0 — — Bandar Seri Begawan — 0 0 0 Bangkok 0 0 52 0 Banjul 357 1,482 99 2 Beirut 0 0 0 0 Belgrade 55 175 32 14 Belompan — 0 — — Berlin — 0 0 0 Berne — 0 — 16 Bogota 0 1,181 219 0 Bombay 767 7,584 10,109 281 Brasilia — 0 0 0 Bratislava 0 897 146 0 Bridgetown — 0 0 0 Brussels 0 0 0 0 Bucharest 608 2,964 1,804 99 Budapest 0 0 0 0 Buenos Aires — 0 0 0 Cairo 61 112 63 4 Calcutta 76 935 820 0 Canberra 0 0 0 0 Caracas — 0 0 0 Casablanca 86 689 934 81 Chicago 0 0 7 0 Colombo 89 461 160 — Copenhagen 9 154 113 17 Dakar 1 8 17 0 Damascus 137 898 506 19 Dar es Salaam 97 244 648 90 Dhaka 188 1,668 636 0 Doha 0 0 0 — Dubai 34 167 26 7 Dublin 0 0 0 0 Dusseldorf 176 518 510 47 Ekaterinburg 0 0 0 0 Freetown — 0 0 0 Gaborone — 0 — 2 Geneva 40 393 378 25 Georgetown 0 0 0 0 Gibraltar4 — 0 — — Guangzhou 0 0 0 0 Guatemala City — 0 0 0 Hamilton4 — 0 — — 200W
January 2001 to March 20011 April 2001 to March 20022 April to December 20023 January 2003 Hanoi 0 0 0 — Harare 0 0 0 0 Havana 0 0 0 0 Helsinki — 24 0 0 Hong Kong 0 0 0 0 Honiara — 0 3 2 Islamabad 4,008 16,466 3,824 545 Istanbul 0 0 0 0 Jakarta 0 0 0 0 Jeddah 0 0 0 0 Jerusalem 0 0 — 0 Kampala 120 1,915 1,717 0 Karachi 321 6,316 3 0 Kathmandu 0 0 113 0 Khartoum 0 0 0 0 Kiev 36 144 81 2 Kigali — 0 0 0 Kingston 133 848 122 0 Kinshasa — 0 0 0 Kuala Lumpur 0 0 0 0 Kuwait 0 0 0 0 La Paz — 6 2 6 Lagos 90 3,240 2,516 316 Lahore — 4,411 — — Lilongwe — 0 25 — Lima 0 19 37 10 Lisbon — 0 0 0 Los Angeles 464 1,517 971 72 Luanda 34 0 0 0 Lusaka 0 0 28 — Luxembourg — 0 0 — Madras 390 1,430 — — Madrid 56 260 222 — Managua — 0 0 — Manila 12 9 0 — Maputo — 0 — — Maseru — 0 0 — Mbabane — 0 0 — Mexico City 0 0 0 — Minsk 0 0 0 — Montevideo — 0 0 — Moscow 0 0 0 — Muscat 0 0 0 0 Nairobi 0 0 288 — Nassau — 0 0 — New Delhi 2,078 10,902 7,881 — New York 0 0 0 — Nicosia 0 0 619 — Nuku Alofa — 0 — — Oslo 3 1 — — Ottawa 0 0 0 — Panama City — 0 0 — Paris 556 2,200 545 0 Peking 61 0 0 — Port Louis 0 0 0 — Port Moresby — 0 — — Port of Spain 0 0 0 — Prague 0 0 0 — Pretoria 0 0 0 — Quito 39 132 192 — Rabat — 0 0 — Rangoon — 4 7 — Reykjavik — 0 0 — Riga 0 0 0 — Rio de Janeiro — 0 0 — Riyadh 0 0 0 — Rome 0 0 157 — San Jose — 0 0 — San Salvador — 0 — — Sana'a 53 150 77 — Santiago — 0 0 — Santo Domingo 0 0 0 — Sarajevo 1 0 3 — Seoul — 0 0 — Shanghai 0 0 0 — Singapore 0 0 0 0 Skopje 0 0 3,940 — Sofia 0 2,266 654 — St. Petersburg 0 0 0 — Stanley4 — 0 — — Stockholm 42 114 0 —
January 2001 to March 20011 April 2001 to March 20022 January 2003 Suva — 0 — — Taipei 0 0 0 — Tallinn — 0 0 — Tangier — 0 — — Tashkent 0 0 0 — Tbilisi 0 0 0 — Tegucigalpa — 0 0 — Tehran 336 2,944 1,935 — Tel Aviv — 0 0 — Tirana 0 8 0 0 Tokyo 0 0 1 0 Tripoli 0 117 65 — Tunis 119 576 174 — Ulaan Baatar — 0 0 — Valletta — 0 0 — Victoria — 0 0 — Vienna 0 1 0 — Vila — 0 1 — Vilnius — 1 0 — Warsaw 0 0 0 — Washington 0 2 1 — Wellington 29 107 136 — Windhoek — 0 0 — Yaounde 0 0 0 — Yerevan — 0 0 — Zagreb 31 116 85 — Total 14,817 90,792 48,822 1,704 Notes: 1 The January to March 2001 figures are based on the monthly statistical returns received from the 109 largest Entry Clearance posts. To answer this question for all 164 posts we would have to ask those additional posts to extract the information requested. As these posts tend to be the smaller posts it is unlikely that many of them will pre-sift applications. 2 The April 2001-March 2002 figures are based on annual financial year statistical reports received from all 166 Entry Clearance posts. 3 From April 2002 all Entry Clearance posts were required to send in monthly statistical returns. The figures provided for April to December 2002 are based on these returns. 4 These posts only complete annual returns.