Entry Clearance (Hansard, 26 March 2001)

§ Mr. Letwin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reasons were given for refusal of visas by entry clearance officers at the appeal stage in the case of visa refusals overturned by the Minister for Europe. [155298]
443W

§ Mr. Vaz
[holding answer 23 March 2001]: When an entry clearance officer refuses a visa applicant he or she always gives the applicant written reasons for doing so. The reasons for refusal will vary from case to case. Where there is a right of appeal against the refusal, the Minister with responsibility for entry clearance does not become involved in the appeal process, which is handled by the Independent Appellate Authority.

§ Mr. Letwin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reasons were given for the initial refusal of visas by entry clearance officers in the case of visa refusals overturned by the Minister for Europe. [155299]

§ Mr. Vaz
[holding answer 23 March 2001]: In such cases, entry clearance officers initially refused to grant a visa because they were not satisfied that the applications met the requirements of the Immigration Rules. Where hon. Members subsequently made representations which have satisfied me that, in fact, the requirements of the Immigration Rules have been fully met, I have overturned the original decision of the entry clearance officer.

Family visit visas applications 2001

Applications received Applications determined Applications issued Applications refused

January February January February January February January February

Abidjan ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Abu Dhabi 24 ¹— 23 ¹— 17 ¹— 6 ¹—

Abuja ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Accra 753 ¹— 685 ¹— 277 ¹— 408

Addis Ababa 31 12 39 11 14 6 25 5

Almaty 36 13 37 13 37 13 0 0

Amman 426 85 0 85 0 84 0 1

Amsterdam 38 34 38 34 32 30 6 4

Ankara 29 38 29 38 28 38 1 0

Bahrain 16 10 16 10 16 10 0 0

Baku 19 9 19 9 18 9 1 0
Bandar Seri Begawan ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Bangkok 80 173 73 154 45 131 28 23

Banjul 38 34 40 31 32 20 8 11

Beirut 92 62 89 62 87 61 2 1

Belgrade 258 391 4 352 0 347 4 5

Bogota 33 33 33 33 25 29 8 4

Bombay 619 1,070 619 1,070 454 874 165 196

Bratislava 50 ¹— 50 ¹— 47 ¹— 3 ¹—

Brussels 14 10 4 7 3 5 1 2

Bucharest 58 85 59 90 48 82 11 8

Budapest 6 7 6 7 5 7 1 0

Cairo 137 145 129 142 113 124 16 18

Calcutta 94 118 97 120 95 116 2 4

Canberra 7 ¹— 7 ¹— 4 ¹— 3 ¹—

Casablanca 117 119 110 116 105 114 5 2

Chicago 141 176 119 162 119 162 0 0

Colombo 70 74 70 74 32 48 38 26

Copenhagen 44 36 44 36 44 36 0 0

Damascus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Dar Es Salaam 107 104 107 104 93 83 14 21

Dhaka 451 490 348 415 203 227 145 188

Doha 49 31 49 31 46 31 3 0

Dubai 71 79 75 81 47 47 28 34

Dublin 36 ¹— 36 ¹— 34 ¹— 2 ¹—

Dusseldorf 106 272 100 246 94 241 6 5

Ekaterinburg 11 16 11 16 11 16 0 0

Geneva 25 74 21 67 20 66 1 1

Georgetown 33 ¹— 33 ¹— 28 ¹— 5 ¹—

Guangzhou 121 ¹— 90 ¹— 84 ¹— 6 ¹—

Hanoi 4 3 4 3 2 1 2 2

Harare 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1

Havana 3 0 3 0 3 0 0 0

444W

§ Mr. Letwin
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in respect of visa refusals overturned by the Minister for Europe, how many he intervened on(a) following representations from an hon. Member and (b) following external requests. [155300]

§ Mr. Vaz
[holding answer 23 March 2001]: I have overturned a total of 49 decisions following representations from right hon. and hon. Members since October 1999. I do not take representations from other sources and have therefore overturned no decisions following external requests.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many family visit visa applications were(a) received, (b) determined, (c) allowed and (d) refused since 1 January, broken down by entry clearance post. [155570]

§ Mr. Vaz
The table sets out the information received from entry clearance posts issuing more than 1,200 visas per year. I regret that the information for the remaining posts issuing less than 1,200 visas per year is not available centrally.
445W

Family visit visas applications 2001

Applications received Applications determined Applications issued Applications refused

January February January February January February January February

Hong Kong 32 ¹— 32 ¹— 27 ¹— 5 ¹—

Islamabad ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Istanbul 430 453 485 522 424 451 61 71

Jakarta 36 58 37 56 33 50 4 6

Jedda 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Jerusalem 5 ¹— 5 ¹— 5 ¹— 0 ¹—

Kampala 116 102 120 84 100 59 20 25

Karachi 575 ¹— 460 ¹— 397 ¹— 63 ¹—

Kathmandu 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Khartoum 44 15 15 16 5 6 10 10

Kiev 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Kingston 52 ¹— 46 ¹— 35 ¹— 11 ¹—

Kuala Lumpur 14 12 13 13 10 11 3 2

Kuwait 200 43 200 43 196 39 4 4

Lagos 1,147 1,193 901 1,293 688 1,143 213 150

Lima 12 ¹— 12 ¹— 8 ¹— 4 ¹—

Los Angeles 0 216 0 216 0 216 0 0

Luanda 8 2 8 2 8 1 0 1

Lusaka 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Madras 217 229 233 226 216 211 17 15

Madrid 26 ¹— 26 ¹— 26 ¹— 0 ¹—

Manila ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Minsk 0 14 0 14 0 13 0 1

Moscow 237 214 228 191 223 190 5 1

Muscat 75 39 72 39 68 36 4 3

Nairobi 156 ¹— 156 ¹— 132 ¹— 24 ¹—

New Delhi 913 1,153 907 1,129 573 682 334 447

New York 533 ¹— 511 ¹— 500 ¹— 11 ¹—

Nicosia 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Oslo 30 44 27 42 27 41 0 1

Ottawa 475 278 442 185 442 184 0 1

Paris 0 253 0 248 0 246 0 2

Peking 109 63 94 51 88 40 6 11

Port Louis 80 136 80 136 73 126 7 10

Port of Spain 5 ¹— 5 ¹— 5 ¹— 0 ¹—

Prague 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Pretoria 27 ¹— 20 ¹— 16 ¹— 4 ¹—

Quito 24 14 24 14 20 14 4 0

Riga 11 ¹— 11 ¹— 11 ¹— 0 ¹—

Riyadh 8 15 12 20 9 9 3 11

Rome 63 90 61 80 60 77 1 3

Sana'a 20 13 20 10 8 1 12 9

Sarajevo 61 119 61 119 6l 117 0 2

Shanghai 10 30 10 30 8 23 2 7

Singapore 21 26 24 25 18 25 6 0

Sofia 89 118 74 117 71 113 3 4

St. Petersburg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

St. Domingo ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Stockholm 89 103 129 123 128 121 1 2

Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tashkent 13 5 13 5 12 4 1 1

Tbilisi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tehran 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tel Aviv ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Tirana 21 21 15 23 15 20 0 3

Tokyo 5 5 5 4 4 2 1 2

Tunis 97 92 87 70 60 70 27 21

Valletta ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Vienna ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Warsaw 0 3 0 1 0 1 0 0

Washington 312 305 312 301 312 301 0 0

Wellington 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Yaounde 7 ¹— 22 ¹— 20 ¹— 2 ¹—

Zagreb 70 96 70 90 63 82 7 8

¹ Information not yet received from Posts

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many family visit visa refusals in relation to which(a) an appeal has been received, (b) the refusal has been overturned by an 446W entry clearance manager after receipt of an appeal, (c) an appeal has been despatched, (d) entry clearance has been issued prior to the outcome of an appeal, (e) an appeal has been allowed and notified to the post and (f) an appeal 447W has been dismissed and notified to the post, there were in each month in 2001, broken down by entry clearance post. [155571]

§ Mr. Vaz
The table on family visit refusals appeals received, refusals overturned after receipt of an appeal and appeals despatched covers information so far received from overseas Posts issuing more than 1,200 visas per year. I regret that the information requested for the remaining posts issuing less than 1,200 visas per year is not available centrally.

Family Visit Visa Refusals 2001

Appeals received Refusals overturned by ECM Appeal despatched

January February January February January February

Abidjan ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Abu Dhabi 1 ¹— 0 ¹— 1 ¹—

Abuja ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Accra 3 ¹— 0 ¹— 6 ¹—

Addis Ababa 0 1 0 0 0 0

Almaty 0 0 0 0 0 0

Amman 0 0 0 0 0 0

Amsterdam 0 0 0 0 0 0

Ankara 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bahrain 0 0 0 0 0 0

Baku 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bandar Seri Begawan ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Bangkok 0 6 1 0 0 5

Banjul 0 0 0 0 0 0

Beirut 1 0 0 0 1 0

Belgrade 0 1 0 0 0 1

Bogota 2 0 0 0 1 0

Bombay 9 13 0 0 8 14

Bratislava 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Brussels 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bucharest 0 2 0 0 0 2

Budapest 0 0 0 0 0 0

Cairo 0 1 0 0 0 0

Calcutta 0 0 0 0 0 0

Canberra 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Casablanca 0 0 0 0 0 1

Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0

Colombo 5 1 1 0 4 1

Copenhagen 0 0 0 0 0 0

Damascus 3 2 0 0 1 6

Dar Es Salaam 0 2 0 0 0 2

Dhaka 12 14 2 2 7 12

Doha 1 0 0 0 1 0

Dubai 0 0 0 0 0 0

Dublin 1 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Dusseldorf 0 0 0 0 0 0

Ekaterinburg 0 0 0 0 0 0

Geneva 0 0 0 0 0 0

Georgetown 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Guangzhou 3 ¹— 0 ¹— 2 ¹—

Hanoi 0 0 0 0 0 0

Harare 0 0 0 0 0 0

Havana 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hong Kong 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Islamabad ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Istanbul 2 7 0 0 2 5

Jakarta 0 0 0 0 0 0

Jedda 0 0 0 0 0 0

Jerusalem 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Kampala 1 3 0 1 1 1

Karachi 4 ¹— 0 ¹— 9 ¹—

Kathmandu 0 1 0 0 0 1

Khartoum 0 1 0 1 0 0

Kiev 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Kingston 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Kuala Lumpur 0 0 0 0 0

448W
The information requested at (d) on the issue of entry clearance prior to the outcome of an appeal is not available centrally or locally. The Entry Clearance Manager may sign an appeal form only if he or she decides, after review, that the refusal stands.
Similarly, the information requested at (e) and (f) on appeals allowed and dismissed is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost by contacting all entry clearance issuing posts individually. The Home Office informs posts of the outcome of allowed appeals. The Lord Chancellor's Department informs posts of dismissed appeals.
449W

Family Visit Visa Refusals 2001

Appeals received Refusals overturned by ECM Appeal despatched

January February January February January February

Kuwait 0 0 0 0 0 0

Lagos 31 33 6 5 22 31

Lima 1 ¹— 0 ¹— 1 ¹—

Los Angeles 0 0 0 0 0 0

Luanda 0 0 0 0 0 0

Lusaka 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Madras 1 0 0 0 1 0

Madrid 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Manila ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Minsk 0 0 0 0 0 0

Moscow 0 1 0 1 0 0

Muscat 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nairobi 4 ¹— 0 ¹— 4 ¹—

New Delhi 15 21 1 2 12 20

New York 1 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Nicosia 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Oslo 0 0 0 0 0 0

Ottawa 0 0 0 0 0 0

Paris 0 0 0 0 0 0

Peking 1 3 0 0 0 3

Port Louis 0 1 0 0 0 0

Port of Spain 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Prague 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Pretoria 1 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Quito 0 0 0 0 0 0

Riga 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Riyadh 0 2 0 0 0 2

Rome 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sana'a 1 1 0 0 1 1

Sarajevo 0 0 0 0 0 0

Shanghai 0 0 0 0 0 0

Singapore 0 5 0 0 0 5

Sofia 1 0 0 0 0 0

St. Petersburg 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sto Domingo ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Stockholm 0 0 0 0 0 0

Taipei 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tashkent 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tbilisi 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tehran 1 5 0 0 1 5

Tel Aviv ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Tirana 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tokyo 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tunis 0 5 0 0 0 5

Valletta ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Vienna ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹— ¹—

Warsaw 0 0 0 0 0 0

Washington 0 0 0 0 0 0

Wellington 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Yaounde 0 ¹— 0 ¹— 0 ¹—

Zagreb 1 1 1 1 0 0

¹ Information not yet received from Posts

Family visit visas applications 2001
	Applications received	Applications determined	Applications issued	Applications refused
	January	February	January	February	January	February	January	February
Abidjan	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Abu Dhabi	24	¹—	23	¹—	17	¹—	6	¹—
Abuja	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Accra	753	¹—	685	¹—	277	¹—	408
Addis Ababa	31	12	39	11	14	6	25	5
Almaty	36	13	37	13	37	13	0	0
Amman	426	85	0	85	0	84	0	1
Amsterdam	38	34	38	34	32	30	6	4
Ankara	29	38	29	38	28	38	1	0
Bahrain	16	10	16	10	16	10	0	0
Baku	19	9	19	9	18	9	1	0
Bandar Seri Begawan	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Bangkok	80	173	73	154	45	131	28	23
Banjul	38	34	40	31	32	20	8	11
Beirut	92	62	89	62	87	61	2	1
Belgrade	258	391	4	352	0	347	4	5
Bogota	33	33	33	33	25	29	8	4
Bombay	619	1,070	619	1,070	454	874	165	196
Bratislava	50	¹—	50	¹—	47	¹—	3	¹—
Brussels	14	10	4	7	3	5	1	2
Bucharest	58	85	59	90	48	82	11	8
Budapest	6	7	6	7	5	7	1	0
Cairo	137	145	129	142	113	124	16	18
Calcutta	94	118	97	120	95	116	2	4
Canberra	7	¹—	7	¹—	4	¹—	3	¹—
Casablanca	117	119	110	116	105	114	5	2
Chicago	141	176	119	162	119	162	0	0
Colombo	70	74	70	74	32	48	38	26
Copenhagen	44	36	44	36	44	36	0	0
Damascus	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dar Es Salaam	107	104	107	104	93	83	14	21
Dhaka	451	490	348	415	203	227	145	188
Doha	49	31	49	31	46	31	3	0
Dubai	71	79	75	81	47	47	28	34
Dublin	36	¹—	36	¹—	34	¹—	2	¹—
Dusseldorf	106	272	100	246	94	241	6	5
Ekaterinburg	11	16	11	16	11	16	0	0
Geneva	25	74	21	67	20	66	1	1
Georgetown	33	¹—	33	¹—	28	¹—	5	¹—
Guangzhou	121	¹—	90	¹—	84	¹—	6	¹—
Hanoi	4	3	4	3	2	1	2	2
Harare	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
Havana	3	0	3	0	3	0	0	0

Family Visit Visa Refusals 2001
	Appeals received	Refusals overturned by ECM	Appeal despatched
	January	February	January	February	January	February
Abidjan	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Abu Dhabi	1	¹—	0	¹—	1	¹—
Abuja	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Accra	3	¹—	0	¹—	6	¹—
Addis Ababa	0	1	0	0	0	0
Almaty	0	0	0	0	0	0
Amman	0	0	0	0	0	0
Amsterdam	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ankara	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bahrain	0	0	0	0	0	0
Baku	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bandar Seri Begawan	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Bangkok	0	6	1	0	0	5
Banjul	0	0	0	0	0	0
Beirut	1	0	0	0	1	0
Belgrade	0	1	0	0	0	1
Bogota	2	0	0	0	1	0
Bombay	9	13	0	0	8	14
Bratislava	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Brussels	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bucharest	0	2	0	0	0	2
Budapest	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cairo	0	1	0	0	0	0
Calcutta	0	0	0	0	0	0
Canberra	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Casablanca	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chicago	0	0	0	0	0	0
Colombo	5	1	1	0	4	1
Copenhagen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Damascus	3	2	0	0	1	6
Dar Es Salaam	0	2	0	0	0	2
Dhaka	12	14	2	2	7	12
Doha	1	0	0	0	1	0
Dubai	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dublin	1	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Dusseldorf	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ekaterinburg	0	0	0	0	0	0
Geneva	0	0	0	0	0	0
Georgetown	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Guangzhou	3	¹—	0	¹—	2	¹—
Hanoi	0	0	0	0	0	0
Harare	0	0	0	0	0	0
Havana	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hong Kong	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Islamabad	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Istanbul	2	7	0	0	2	5
Jakarta	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jedda	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jerusalem	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Kampala	1	3	0	1	1	1
Karachi	4	¹—	0	¹—	9	¹—
Kathmandu	0	1	0	0	0	1
Khartoum	0	1	0	1	0	0
Kiev	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Kingston	0	¹—	0	¹—	0	¹—
Kuala Lumpur	0	0	0	0	0