§ 24. Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the most recently available figures for the average length of time taken to process applications for British citizenship.
§ Mr. WaddingtonI refer the hon. Member to my reply to a question from the hon. Member for Bradford, West (Mr. Madden) on 9 April at column 62.
§ 28. Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give priority to minors who apply for British citizenship.
§ Mr. WaddingtonApplications for citizenship, including those from minors, are generally considered in the order they are received, but any request for priority to be given to a particular application is carefully considered on its merits.
§ 40. Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his latest estimate of the average time taken to process applications for citizenship in cases of (a) entitlement and (b) discretion.
§ Mr. WaddingtonAt present, for cases where the grant is at discretion the average time taken is just under 21 months. Where there is an entitlement, the average time taken is 14 months. Average figures can be misleading. For example about 75 per cent. of entitlement cases are currently being completed in under the 14-month average. Separate records of the time taken for minors are not kept. They are included here in entitlement cases.
§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have applied for, and are currently awaiting, British citizenship; what is the length of waiting time; and how many of the applicants are under 18 years.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe number of applications for citizenship received since 1 January 1983 is 91,125, of which 11,675 were in respect of minors. The number of applications awaiting completion is 56,736. The completion time varies with the nature of the application. The average time for naturalisation is just under 21 months; that for registrations in general is 14 months.