§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements are being put in place to deal with the increase in visa applications at(a) the British embassy in Addis Ababa and (b) other diplomatic missions in Africa [80585]
§ Mr. RammellVisa applications worldwide for the UK are rising by 6.5 per cent. a year. We are modernising our process and procedures to tackle this. Earlier this year we introduced a number of streamlining measures in Addis Ababa and other parts of Africa. These measures are aimed at resolving applications more efficiently without compromising the quality of decision making. We have also agreed funding for two additional officers in the visa section at Addis Ababa.
§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the daily banking operations of UK high commissions and embassies in relation to the granting of visas; which currencies are accepted; what basis is used for calculating local exchange rates; which national or international banking institutions are used to hold accounts; which companies conduct audits; and what differences there are to such practices in(a) Afghanistan, (b) Albania, (c) Algeria, (d) Angola, (e) Argentina, (f) Azerbaijan, (g) Bangladesh, (h) Benin, (i) Bosnia-Herzegovina, (j) Botswana, (k) Burma, (1) Cameroon, (m) Chile, (n) China, (o) Colombia, (p) Congo Republic, (q) Democratic Republic of Congo, (r) Ivory Coast, (s) Cuba, (t) Egypt, (u) Eritrea, (v) Ethiopia, (w) India, (x) Indonesia, (y) Iran, (z) Israel, (aa) Kazakhstan, (bb) Liberia, (cc) Libya, (dd) Macedonia, (ee) Malawi, 48W (ff) Malaysia, (gg) Mexico, (hh) Mozambique, (ii) Nigeria, (jj) North Korea, (kk) Pakistan, (ll) Philippines, (mm) Romania, (nn) Russian Federation, (oo) Rwanda, (pp) Sierra Leone, (qq) South Africa, (rr) Sudan, (ss) Syria, (tt) Tanzania, (uu) Turkey, (vv) Uganda, (ww) United States, (xx) Venezuela, (yy) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, (zz) Zambia, (aaa) Zimbabwe and (bbb) euro-zone countries. [81168]
§ Mr. StrawEmbassies and High Commissions are required to operate under the Consular Fees Regulations 1981 (Statutory Instrument 476 of 1981). This states that "fees shall be paid in currency circulating at the place of payment, except that a consular officer shall have discretion to accept, in lieu of such currency, a cheque, money order, or other means of effecting payment in terms of that currency. The rate of exchange for calculating the equivalent of fees in terms of a foreign currency shall be based upon the rate of exchange which is generally prevailing on the date, and at the place of payment, but which may be adjusted by the consular officer in such a manner and to such extent as he considers to be expedient in the interests of administrative efficiency".
The same rate of exchange is set for all posts in a country. The exchange rate used in euro-zone countries is set by the British Consulate General in Dusseldorf since the headquarters of the European Central Bank is based in Germany.
Visa and consular fees are deposited into posts' official bank accounts. The decision as to which bank is used is taken by each individual post.
All overseas posts' operations are liable to review from our own Ukvisas Reviews section, FCO's internal audit department and also to national audit office scrutiny.