§ Sir C. Mott-Radclyffeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state the reason for the delays by the British Embassy in Warsaw in dealing with inquiries from Poles who desire to visit the United Kingdom; and what steps are being taken to reduce these delays.
§ Mr. Ian HarveyThe chief cause of delay has been the very great increase during the past six months in the number of Poles applying to travel to the United Kingdom. This has resulted in the British Embassy in Warsaw being, inundated with applications made both in person and in writing. The language difficulty and the shortage of Polish translators have markedly added to the problem.
To meet this very large increase in work, the staff of the Visa Section of the 29W British Embassy in Warsaw has, in the past year, been increased from two to sixteen persons and to the limit of the available accommodation. But despite all their efforts and long hours of work, the work is not yet up to date. In consequence, there has inevitably been, and there still is, delay in dealing with inquiries.
Recently two thousand applications with their correspondene in Polish have been sent to London and translated here. I am glad to say this step together with the increase in staff. has enabled the British Embassy in Warsaw to start steadily reducing the accumulation of un-disposed of correspondence, as well as dealing with current inquiries. Provided there is no further substantial increase, it is hoped that within a month inquiries will be put in hand as they are received, and that delays will be confined to those inseparable from the examination of any application before a final decision can be made.