Mr. Robert G. HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-British citizens of New Commonwealth origin, including British overseas citizens and British dependent territory citizens, are currently settled in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation is available only on the number of citizens of New Commonwealth countries usually resident in Great Britain, excluding British overseas citizens and British dependent territories citizens. According to the labour force surveys there were about 540,000 such citizens in 1987–89, including students. Not all these persons will have settlement in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 6 February,Official Report, column 142, to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz), if he will list those categories of foreign nationals from countries from where immigrant arrivals in the United Kingdom normally need a visa for entry who are exempt; and on how many occasions a waiver dispensation has been instituted since 1979.
§ Mr. Peter LloydDetails of the visa exemption scheme and the 10 nationalities to which it applies are set out in the document referred to in the answer of 6 February. Visa regimes incorporating the scheme have been introduced on five occasions. There is in addition a long-standing transit without visa concession for airline passengers booked on an onward flight within 24 hours. The concession does not, however, apply to nationals of Sri Lanka and Iraq, or to nationals of Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Turkey and Somalia if they seek to pass through immigration control.