§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long a person applying for entry clearance for settlement in June, July and August can be expected to have to wait for an interview in each queue at each post in the Indian subcontinent. [96617]
§ Mr. Vaz[pursuant to his reply, 3 November 1999, c. 186]: An administrative error led to an omission in my answer of 3 November to my hon. Friend. The complete answer should read as follows.
The statistics are as follows:
Waiting times in weeks on last day of month Post Queue June July August India Bombay Q1 0 0 0 Q2 6 5 4 Q3 6 5 5 Q4 6 5 5 Calcutta 1— 0.4 1 0 Madras 1— 8 4 3 New Delhi Q1 0 0 0 Q2 15 15 16 Q3 27 26 23 Q4 31 35 34 Pakistan Islamabad Q1 12 8 7 Q2 43 40.5 39 Q3 47 46 43 Q4 56 54 51 Karachi 1— 8 10 9 Bangladesh Dhaka Q1 11 13 14 Q2 22 20 21 Q3 11 10 10 Q4 52 44 46 Sri Lanka Colombo 1— 12 11 9 1 Calcutta, Colombo, Karachi and Madras do not operate separate queues. Note:
486W
- Queue 1—Right of Abode cases and Dependant Relatives over 65;
- Queue 2—Spouses and Children under 18;
- Queue 3—Fiance(e)s and Other First Time Applicants; and
- Queue 4—Re-applicants
The extended queues in Islamabad and Dhaka in particular are a consequence of seasonal pressures. We have deployed additional staff to Islamabad to deal with increased applications for short term visits.