HC Deb 10 February 1977 vol 925 cc813-6W
Mr. Alexander W. Lyon

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth

of renewing for a further six months. The superintendents are accompanied by their wives, who hold six-month dependent status visas. There is a Czech national, the wife of a West German business man, who has been in Hong Kong since 1975 and was last year given a 12-month extension of stay. There is also a Polish nun entitled to stay in Hong King within the validity of her passport, which is due to expire in 1981.

Mr. Parry

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in the Official Report details of the tonnage of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' ships visiting Hong Kong in each of the past five years, stating for each year how much of this tonnage was cargo ships trading in Hong Kong, vessels using repair facilities, and passenger ships, respectively.

Mr. Luard

The net registered tonnage of Soviet ships visiting Hong Kong during the period in question was as follows:

Affairs what were the number of applications for settlement by wives and children of men settled in the United Kingdom received by each of the posts in the Indian subcontinent for each quarter in the last three years; and what is now the total number of wives and children at each post awaiting a decision on an application they have made.

Mr. Luard,

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 26th January 1977; Vol. 924, c. 621], gave the following information:

Estimates of the numbers of applications received and the numbers awaiting a decision are given in the following table. Precise and comparable figures are not available because the methods of recording applications have varied from time to time and from post to post.

APPLICATIONS FOR SETTLEMENT RECEIVED FROM WIVES AND CHILDREN
Dacca Islamabad Karachi Delhi* Calcutta* Madras* Bombay*
1974—
1st quarter 2,127 2,088 Not available 2,025 48 176 264
2nd quarter 1,728 2,254 Not available 1,887 77 185 415
3rd quarter 1,686 1,932 Not available 2,255 55 247 517
4th quarter 1,932 1,623 Not available 2,040 71 228 773
1975—
1st quarter 2,583 1,961 248 1,640 66 161 948
2nd quarter 1,893 2,659 388 870 74 173 762
3rd quarter 1,899 2,710 418 588 52 231 720
4th quarter 3,486 2,361 371 362 51 192 586
1976—
1st quarter 2,217 3,977 387 592† 57 162 607
2nd quarter 3,238 4,142 241 797† 59 220 751
3rd quarter 1,376 2,571 164 850† 64 126 760
4th quarter 2,366 1,896 150 940† 52 100 439
Total number of wives and children awaiting a decision at 31st December 1976 (30th November 1976 for Islamabad) 17,159 12,653 742 1,146 20 70 2,242
* These figures include the dependants of United Kingdom passport holders.
† In addition from the fourth quarter of 1975 to the last quarter of 1976 a small number of wives and children at very short notice and no application for interview was recorded. It is estimated that the numbers involved were approximately as follows:
1975 4th quarter—450; 1976 1st quarter—350; 1976 2nd quarter—300; 1976 3rd quarter—150; 1976 4th quarter—150.

Forward to