§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long 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 the latest convenient date could expect to wait for (i) interview, (ii) referral of the case to the Home Office and the requested information being received by the post, (iii) decisions and (iv) an explanatory statement prepared by the post in the event of an appeal against a refusal to be dispatched to the immigration appellate authorities in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe information requested at (ii) and (iii) is not available. Processing times vary according to the circumstances of individual cases.
As to (i) and (iv) the position at 15 July was as follows:
(i) (iv) Manila 7 weeks within 3 months Accra 5 weeks within 3 months Lagos 1 week within 2 months Kingston 16 weeks within 2 months Nicosia Normally same day (but 12 weeks for non-residents) within 7 days Cairo Normally same day within 10 days
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long a person applying for entry clearance on 31 March or the latest convenient date at each post in the Indian sub-continent could expect to 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 dispatched to the immigration appellate authorities in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Sainsbury(a): I refer the hon. Member to the reply to the hon. Member for Leicester East (Mr. Vaz) on 17 July.
1163W(b) and (c): This information is not available. Processing times vary according to the circumstances of individual cases.
(d): Average dispatch times of explanatory statements from receipt of an appeal are:
Settlement Non-Settlement Dhaka 12 weeks 12 weeks Karachi 15 weeks 5 weeks New Delhi 23 weeks 18 weeks Madras 4–6 weeks 4–6 weeks Calcutta 5 weeks 5 weeks Islamabad 6 weeks 4 weeks Bombay 12 weeks 12 weeks
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many applications for naturalisation as British dependent territories citizens on the basis of a connection with Hong Kong have been(a) received, (b) granted and (c) refused for each year since 1985 and to the nearest available date.
§ Mr. MaudeThe figures for applications for naturalisation as British dependent territories citizens on the basis of a connection with Hong Kong are as follows:
Period Received Approved Refused 1985 844 701 151 1986 861 759 98 1987 1,233 807 70 1988 1,016 1,074 60 11989 811 604 37 1 January to June.
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British dependent territories citizens from Hong Kong have(a) applied for and (b) been granted the status of British national (overseas).
§ Mr. MaudeA total of 70,268 applications for British national (overseas) passports have been received, of which 68,909 have been granted. The remainder are still being processed.
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many explanatory statements related to entry clearance appeals were awaiting typing at (i) each post in the Indian sub-continent, (ii) in Manila, (iii) Lagos and (iv) Accra, on the latest available date; how many staff are employed, both full-time and part-time, to type statements; and when he expects any backlogs to be cleared.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe information requested is given in the following table (as at 15 July):
1164W
(a)1 (b)2 Karachi 38 1 Islamabad 60 13 Dhaka 233 5 New Delhi 50 (5) Madras Nil (1) Calcutta 4 (1) Bombay 28 (7) Accra 9 (1) Manila 40 1 and (4) Lagos Nil 2 and (4) 1 Numbers of explanatory statements awaiting typing. 2 Staff whose duties include typing explanatory statements (staff employed on other typing work shown in brackets). The backlog in Dhaka is due to recruitment problems and will be cleared as soon as the typing establishment is at full strength.
§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the present waiting times to first interview for all categories of applicant in each country and at each post in the Indian sub-continent.
§ Mr. SainsburyI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) on 17 July at column,4–5.