Entry Clearance

HC Deb 20 July 1988 vol 137 cc703-5W

Mr. Madden

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long he estimates a person applying for entry clearance for settlement at the British post in(a) Manila, (b) Accra, (c) Lagos, (d) Kingston, (e) Nicosia, and (f) Cairo on 31 March, or on the latest convenient date, will wait for (i) interview, referral of the case to the Home Office and the requested information being received in the post, decisions and (iv) an explanatory statement prepared by the post in the event of an appeal against a refusal to be despatched to the immigration appellate authorities in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Mellor

The available information sought at (ii) and (iii) is not available. Processing times vary considerably from case to case. As to (i) and (iv) the position as at 15 July 1988 is as follows:

	(i)	(iv)
Manila	17 weeks	16 weeks
Accra	Same day	12 weeks
Lagos	Same day	5 weeks
Kingston	Same day	16 weeks
Nicosia	One day	6 weeks
Cairo	Same day	0

Mr. Madden

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long he estimates a person applying for entry clearance on 31 March, or the latest convenient date, at each post in the Indian sub-continent will wait, in each queue, for(a) first interview, (b) referral of the case to the Home Office and the requested information being received by the post, (c) decision after first interview, and (d) for the explanatory statement prepared by the post in the case of appeal against any refusal to be despatched to the immigration appellate authorities in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Mellor

The waiting times as at 31 May 1988 for first interview in each queue are as follows:

Post	Queue	Actual (in months)
New Delhi	1	0
	2	4
	3	7
	4	10

Post	Queue	Actual (in months)
Bombay	1	3
	2	6
	3	9
	4	10
Madras	1	0
	2	0
	3	0
	4	0
Calcutta	1	1
	2	1
	3	1
	4	1
Dhaka	1	3
	2	7
	3	7
	4	22
Islamabad	1	4
	2	8
	3	19
	4	20
Karachi	1	2
	2	5
	3	10
	4	13

Settlement queues are organised as follows:

Q1.	Persons with a claim to the right of abode, dependent relatives over 70 years, special compassionate cases.
Q2.	All spouses, and all children under 18 years.
Q3.	Fiance(e)s and others applying for the first time for settlement.
Q4.	Re-applicants.

On (b) and (c), this information is not available. Processing times vary considerably from case to case.

On (d), the information is not yet available for all posts in the Indian sub-continent and is being sought. I will write to the hon. Member when I receive the replies.

Mr. Madden

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many explanatory statements, related to entry clearance appeals, are awaiting typing at the British embassy at Islamabad; how many typists are employed full-time and part-time at the post; how many spouses or partners of embassy staff are retained to type documents at home; when he expects the backlog in typing appeal statements to be cleared; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Mellor

On 15 July 1988 there were 993 explanatory statements awaiting typing at the British embassy in Islamabad. There are nine full-time typists and one part-time typist in the visa section. No spouses of embassy staff are retained to type documents at home. It is hoped that the backlog in the typing of explanatory statements will be cleared in three months.

Mr. Madden

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what training in operating modern office equipment is given to entry clearance officers prior to appointment, or after appointment, to British overseas posts, in particular those on the Indian sub-continent; and what modern office equipment is available at(a) all overseas posts and (b) Islamabad.

Mr. Mellor

All entry clearance officers going to posts with FCO-standard computer systems (which includes all posts in the Indian sub-continent) are offered pre-posting training on IT equipment. In addition, on-site training is provided as required by visiting trainers. Training for officers at posts with non-standard systems is provided by use of commercial training courses in the United Kingdom or at the posts.

On (a), a wide range of multi-user microcomputers, running standard software, has been installed in 94 posts, including all those in the Indian sub-continent. This represents some 1,000 work stations. A further 20 posts have other multi-user microcomputers running non-standard software. In addition there are 36 posts with stand-alone word processors for general use. On (b), in Islamabad FCO-standard systems were installed in November 1987. Islamabad has a total of 31 work stations, of which 15 are in the immigration consular Sections. The purchase and training in the use of other items of office equipment is, for the most part, arranged by posts overseas themselves and central records are not maintained.