Mr. MalinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits were issued in each of the last three years, broken down by country of application. [123502]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 4 July 2003]: The information is contained in the following table.
729W730W
All applications approved including group workers— period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002 Approved Afghanistan 18 Albania 138 Algeria 151 Angola 27 Antigua 17 Argentina 804 Armenia 35 Australia 8,489 Azerbaijan 74 Bahamas 21 Bahrain 8 Bangladesh 1,156 Barbados 171 Belarus 188 Belize 5 Benin 5 Bhutan 2 Bolivia 16 Bosnia-Herzegovina 42 Botswana 144 Brazil 754 British Dependant Terr 17 British National Overseas 475 British Overseas Citz. 27 Brunei 26 Bulgaria 1,375 Burkina Faso 4 Burundi 1 Cambodia 2 Cameroon 137 Canada 3,780 Cape Verde 2 Cayman Islands 1 Central African Republic 4 Chad 2 Chile 126 China, People's Republic of 4,587 Colombia 436 Comoros 1 Congo 353 Costa Rica 17 Croatia 215 Cuba 223 Cyprus 120 Czech Republic 829 Djibouti 1 Dominica 60 Dominican Republic 13 Ecuador 42 Egypt 492 El Salvador 8 Eritrea 3 Estonia 88 Ethiopia 42 Fiji 36 Gabon 6 Gambia 92 Georgia 120 Ghana 1,733 Grenada 40 Guatemala 6 Guinea 17 Guinea-Bissau 5 Guyana 170 Haiti 12 Honduras 3 Hong Kong (British) 199 Hong Kong (Chinese) 379 Hungary 851 India 31,820 Indonesia 303 Iran 341 Iraq 60 Israel 578 Ivory Coast 28 Jamaica 1,515 731W
All applications approved including group workers— period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002 Approved Japan 4,104 Jordan 194 Kazakhstan 138 Kenya 993 Kosovo 8 Kuwait 31 Kyrgyzstan 13 Laos 2 Latvia 225 Lebanon 281 Lesotho 19 Liberia 4 Libya 147 Lithuania 709 Macedonia 69 Madagascar 3 Malawi 166 Malaysia 3,326 Maldives 6 Mali 85 Malta 199 Mauritania 4 Mauri tius 713 Mexico 329 Moldova 64 Monaco 2 Mongolia 27 Montenegro 1 Morocco 122 Mozambique 14 Myanmar 70 Namibia 60 Nauru 4 Nepal 332 New Zealand 3,492 Nicaragua 5 Nigeria 2,914 North Korea 2 Oman 20 Pakistan 4,006 Palestine 25 Palestinian Authority 3 Panama 18 Papua New Guinea 1 Paraguay 14 Peru 91 Philippines 12,778 Poland 2,098 Puerto Rica 8 Qatar 2 Romania 935 Russia 1,981 Rwanda 11 Samoa 2 San Marino 1 Saudi Arabia 99 Senegal 217 Serbia 31 Seychelles 66 Sierra Leone 160 Singapore 566 Slovakia 281 Slovenia 109 Soloman Islands 1 Somalia 12 South Africa 13,715 South Korea 748 Sri Lanka 732 St. Helena 18 St. Kitts 1 St. Lucia 56 St. Vincent 38 Stateless 7 Sudan 128 Surinam 0 Swaziland 35
All applications approved including group workers— period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002 Approved Switzerland 353 Syrian, Arab Republic 151 Tadzikhistan 5 Taiwan 232 Tanzania 122 Thailand 872 Togo 8 TONGA 25 Trinidad an Tobago 742 Tunisia 60 Turkey 885 Turkmenistan 9 Turks and Caicos Islands 1 Uganda 140 Ukraine 673 United Arab Emirates 39 United Kingdom 3 United States of America 23,018 Uruguay 51 Uzbekistan 45 Vanuatu 2 Venezuela 143 Vietnam 58 Yemen Republic of 3 Yugoslavia 213 Zaire 15 Zambia 572 Total 154,443
§ Mr. MalinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Home Office staff were in post dealing with work permit applications on 1 June(a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002 and (d) 2003. [123503]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 4 July 2003]: The numbers of staff in post considering work permit applications on 1 June of the years 2000 to 2003 are as follows:
Number (a) 2000 1113 (b)2001 1206 (c)2002 240 (d)2003 271 1 The figures for 2000–01 are staff dealing with work permit applications in the Department for Education and Employment. The work permit consideration function transferred to the Home Office on 7 June 2001.