§ Mr. LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the waiting time is for the spouse of a British national applying for a settlement visa in the UK from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. [57974]
§ Mr. BradshawWe have a Public Service Agreement with the Treasury that we conduct 90 per cent. of settlement interviews within a target time of 12 weeks. However, in practice applicants who apply to our visa section in Kinshasa on a Monday morning are usually interviewed on Tuesday and Wednesday; those who apply on a Wednesday morning, when the visa section opens again, are interviewed on Thursday, or the following Monday. The section would therefore expect to interview the spouse of a British national applying for settlement within three working days. Normally, a decision on the application would immediately follow this interview.