HC Deb 12 February 2001 vol 363 cc64-6W
Sir Patrick Cormack

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals have been granted permission to enter the UK on the basis of their qualifications in information technology in the last three years; and from which countries they have come. [148903]

Ms Hodge

I have been asked to reply.

The number of foreign nationals broken down by country, granted permission through the work permit arrangements to undertake information technology related jobs during 2000 is given in tie table. Directly comparable figures for 1998 and 1999 are not available as the way in which work permit management information is collected was changed in October 1999.

Country Total number of IT applications approved for 2000
Albania 5
Algeria 11
Angola 3
Argentina 8
Armenia 4
Australia 708
Azerbaijan 3
Bahrain 2
Bangladesh 15
Barbados 3
Belarus 18
Bermuda 5
Bolivia 1
Bosnia-Herzogovina 2
Botswana 2
Brazil 39
British Dependant Territories 2
British National Overseas 23
British Overseas Citizens 4
Bulgaria 65
Burundi 2
Cameroon 17
Canada 377
Chile 6
China Peoples Republic of 221
Colombia 16
Congo 1
Costa Rica 2
Croatia 35
Cuba 3
Cyprus 11
Czech Republic 49
Dominica 2
Ecuador 3
Egypt 21
Estonia 2
Ethiopia 4
Gambia 3
Georgia 5
Ghana 11
Grenada 1
Guatemala 1
Guinea 1
Guyana 2
Haiti 1
Hong Kong (British) 9
Hong Kong (Chinese) 3
Hungary 46
Country Total number of IT applications approved for 2000
India 11,474
Indonesia 36
Iran 21
Iraq 1
Israel 90
Ivory Coast 1
Jamaica 9
Japan 191
Jordan 16
Kazakhstan 7
Kenya 27
Kuwait 2
Latvia 2
Lebanon 14
Libya 2
Lithuania 7
Macedonia 2
Malawi 2
Malaysia 111
Malta 13
Mauritius 20
Mexico 32
Morocco 11
Myanmar 10
Namibia 2
Nepal 3
New Zealand 358
Nigeria 45
Pakistan 132
Palestine 3
Panama 1
Peru 3
Philippines 103
Poland 86
Romania 54
Russia 158
Saudi Arabia 6
Senegal 8
Serbia 6
Sierra Leone 3
Singapore 62
Slovakia 19 Slovenia 7
South Africa 748
South Korea 44
Sri Lanka 69
St. Lucia 3
Sudan 5
Swaziland 1
Switzerland 77
Syrian Arab Republic 3
Taiwan 31
Tanzania 6
Thailand 23
Trinidad and Tobago 19
Tunisia 5
Turkey 85
Turkmenistan 2
Uganda 6
Ukraine 52
United States of America 2,034
Uruguay 1
Uzbekistan 2
Venezuela 9
Vietnam 2
Yugoslavia 69
Zambia 6
Zimbabwe 17
Total 18,257