Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what vetting processes are in place to prevent people with a history of violence or extremism from being granted asylum, in the context of recent developments in the Middle East.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to establish their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks. These checks are critical to the delivery of a safe and secure immigration system.
In line with the Refugee Convention, we will apply the relevant exclusion criteria and deny the benefits of refugee status to those who commit serious crimes and are a danger to the community or those who are a threat to national security.
Extremists and other criminals who are denied protection status who cannot be removed because doing so would breach our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, may be granted shorter more restrictive leave and will be subject to regular review. They are not eligible for the same range of benefits as those with protection status and cannot qualify for settlement. Such individuals are not welcome in the UK and will be removed at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of reducing the proposed qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain for (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) other NHS workers in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Within the new settlement rules, individuals will have the opportunity to reduce their qualifying period based on contributions to the UK economy and society. We will be consulting on those new rules later this year.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Israeli authorities on the sharing of (a) intelligence, (b) biometric data and (c) watchlists in relation to people released under prisoner agreements related to conflict in the Middle East.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
It is the long-standing policy of successive governments not to comment publicly on discussions related to the UK sharing intelligence with international partners. The Home Office uses various tools to detect and disrupt travel by terrorists, by criminals and by individuals excluded from the UK; previously deported from the UK; or using lost, stolen or revoked documents and visas. This includes the use of domestic and international watchlists. It is a longstanding policy that HMG does not comment on the specific data held on the watchlist, how the data is used, or its source, as to do so would be harmful to the national security of the UK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees there are by nationality.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information you have requested is published in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK. Data on asylum seekers who have been granted refugee permission at initial decision is published in table Asy_D02 of the asylum detailed datasets. Data on resettled refugees is published in table Res_D02 of the resettlement detailed datasets. The latest data is available up to the end of June 2025 and includes breakdowns by nationality. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help support skilled fishermen in Northern Ireland through the visa system.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are aware of concerns around labour shortages in the fishing industry and seafood processing sectors. The generally more remote location of the jobs, as well as pay and the challenging working conditions, all present challenges for UK and devolved governments, and the industry, to address. It is important that the industry looks to the domestic workforce to fill vacancies.
Following publication of our Immigration White Paper, the threshold for Skilled Worker visas was raised to graduate professions, but fishing occupations remain on the Immigration Salary List, as a transitional measure until the end of 2026. The industry will need to adapt away from relying on the visa system in that time.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of EU Settlement Scheme applications submitted before December 2022 have yet to be processed.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not centrally held but the current EUSS processing times are published on GOV.UK - EU Settlement Scheme: current estimated processing times for applications - GOV.UK.
EUSS applications are considered on the specific facts of each case.
The most recent data on EUSS applications is published in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
The latest data relates up to June 2025.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the changes to income thresholds in the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, HC 997, published on 1 July 2025, on the number of people employed on Skilled Worker Visas who no longer have leave to remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 12 May, we published our Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes. We made Immigration Rules changes bringing the first of these reforms into effect. The 22 July changes included raising the skills threshold to RQF 6 and a routine uplift of salary going rates.
The salary uplift is based on changes in UK workers’ earnings, as recorded in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings conducted by the Office of National Statistics. This ensures that migrant workers are not used to undercut UK workers and are not exploited by being underpaid, which would create downward pressure on wages.
Recent salary changes only affect those already in the Skilled Worker route when they next make an application to change employment, extend their stay, or settle. Sponsors are not required to increase salary in line with the new salary requirements for the duration of a worker’s existing permission. The changes only apply when they next make an application to change employment or extend their stay. This is in line with normal practice.
Those who have been in the route since before 4 April 2024 continue to be subject to lower overall salary requirements.
On 2 July we asked the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas and the Temporary Shortage List.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the changes to income thresholds in the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, HC 997, published on 1 July 2025, on the number of people employed on Skilled Worker Visas who no longer have leave to remain.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 12 May, we published our Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes. We made Immigration Rules changes bringing the first of these reforms into effect. The 22 July changes included raising the skills threshold to RQF 6 and a routine uplift of salary going rates.
The salary uplift is based on changes in UK workers’ earnings, as recorded in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings conducted by the Office of National Statistics. This ensures that migrant workers are not used to undercut UK workers and are not exploited by being underpaid, which would create downward pressure on wages.
Recent salary changes only affect those already in the Skilled Worker route when they next make an application to change employment, extend their stay, or settle. Sponsors are not required to increase salary in line with the new salary requirements for the duration of a worker’s existing permission. The changes only apply when they next make an application to change employment or extend their stay. This is in line with normal practice.
Those who have been in the route since before 4 April 2024 continue to be subject to lower overall salary requirements.
On 2 July we asked the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas and the Temporary Shortage List.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to share the findings from the national inquiry into grooming gangs with her counterparts in the devolved administrations.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Whilst child protection is fully devolved in the UK and policing devolved except for Wales, all parts of the UK must work together to protect children and bring perpetrators to justice and we are engaging with devolved administrations as part of our response to Baroness Casey’s recommendations.
We expect any relevant findings to be shared with devolved administrations to support a comprehensive approach across the UK. All parts of the UK must work together to protect children and bring perpetrators to justice. We will set out further details on the establishment of the national inquiry in due course and how this may interact with the responsibilities of devolved administrations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest processing times for a decision on an EU Settlement Scheme application.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not centrally held but the current EUSS processing times are published on GOV.UK - EU Settlement Scheme: current estimated processing times for applications - GOV.UK.
EUSS applications are considered on the specific facts of each case.
The most recent data on EUSS applications is published in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
The latest data relates up to June 2025.