§ Mr. Tony Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list for each British diplomatic post in the Indian subcontinent the current expected time from first application to (a) interview and (b) decision for entry clearance for (i) fiancé(e)s and (ii) spouses.
357W
§ Mr. EggarInformation on the waiting time between first application and interview on 30 June for fiancés and spouses in the queues was published for the main entry clearance posts in the subcontinent in the quarterly Home Office statistical bulletin "Control of Immigration Statistics", table 10 of issue 22/85 copies of which are in the Library of the House. At that time fiancées did not require prior entry clearance. The immigration rules and queueing arrangements were changed on 26 August. The waiting times for the groups in the new queues will not have stabilised until the end of this year.
Each application for entry clearance is treated on its merits and waiting times from first application to decision vary from case to case. Statistics are not, therefore, available.