§ Mr. Harry BarnesTo ask the Attorney-General what is the average length of time taken by the independent appellate authority in dealing with an appeal against a decision of an entry clearance officer on an immigration matter.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe immigration appellate authorities (IAA) do not record information on the average time taken to deal with appeals. It is, however, possible to give an estimate of the average time taken by the IAA to deal with appeals at each stage of the proceedings, as follows
(a) from the date of receipt of the notice of appeal and the explanatory statement at the IAA's headquarters to the date of dispatch of the case papers to the parties' representatives in the United Kingdom: two to three months;(b) from the date on which both parties indicate readiness to proceed to a hearing to the date of the hearing: one and a half to two months;395W(c) from the date of hearing to the date of dispatch of the adjudicator's determination to the parties' representatives in the United Kingdom: one month.Thus, the current estimate of the average time taken by the IAA to deal with a case is four and a half to six months, to which must be added the time taken by the parties' representatives in the United Kingdom to indicate readiness to proceed after receipt of the case papers from the IAA. This latter period can vary considerably but the current estimate is from two to six months.
In addition, an appeal from a determination by an adjudicator to the immigration appeal tribunal is estimated to take four to six months.