§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in each of the last five years, how many applications for admission by overseas marriage partners of British men and women have been(a) approved and (b) refused. [96041]
§ Mrs. RocheEntry clearance data to this degree of detail are collected only for posts in the Indian sub-continent, for applications made by the spouses of persons settled in the United Kingdom. This information is published in Table 2.3 of "Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom 1998", a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are being used to refuse admissions to overseas brides and grooms of British men and women. [96032]
§ Mrs. RocheAn overseas national who wishes to join their spouse for settlement in the United Kingdom must obtain prior entry clearance from a British Diplomatic Post abroad. The United Kingdom-based sponsor may be either a British citizen or a person who is settled here in his or her own right.
An entry clearance as a spouse will not be issued unless the entry clearance officer is satisfied that:
- (i) the applicant is married to a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement;
- (ii) the parties to the marriage have met;
108 - (iii) each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse and the marriage is subsisting;
- (iv) there will be adequate accommodation for the parties and any dependants without recourse to public funds in accommodation which they own or occupy exclusively; and
- (v) the parties will be able to maintain themselves and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds.
Where an entry clearance officer is not satisfied that each of these requirements is met, the entry clearance application will be refused.
A spouse may also be refused an entry clearance under the general provisions of the Immigration Rules (for example, on the grounds that he or she does not have a valid travel document, that they are the subject of a deportation order, that they have been convicted of an imprisonable offence, that it is undesirable to admit them for medical reasons, or that their exclusion from the United Kingdom is deemed to be conducive to the public good).