Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of IT issues in her Department on the production of Biometric Resident Permits since 1 January 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The incidences of technical issues preventing Biometric Resident Permit (BRP) card production are low. Where issues are encountered operational case working teams and IT Support endeavour to resolve the issue swiftly without any adverse impacts for the customer.
For the very small proportion of cases that could not be resolved immediately, the Employer Checking Service (ECS) and Landlord Checking Service (LCS) are available to provide support to customers to verify their immigration status and permission to work and rent properties in the UK.
Longer term, the Home Office is developing a border and immigration system which will be digital by default. The ambition is to phase out physical documents, such as BRP’s, before the end of 2024 as we move towards a system of online evidence of immigration status (eVisas).
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) evacuating children without their parents and (b) other instances of families being separated during their evacuation from Afghanistan under Operation Pitting on those people.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Following the evacuation of Kabul any children who we became aware of in the UK, that were not with their parents, have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis. When this has happened, we work in close collaboration with social services and the relevant local authority.
The Government has provided, and it continues to provide, a warm welcome to Afghans arriving in the UK. This includes the provision of accommodation, food, integration support, English lessons, and healthcare.
The situation in Afghanistan remains very complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave the country. This includes the eligible family members of those who arrived during Operation Pitting.
For those evacuated from Afghanistan and resettled under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), without their immediate family members, further information will be made available in due course about options for reuniting with them.
Otherwise, anyone without refugee status - including those resettled under ACRS Pathway 1 and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - wishing to bring family members would need to apply through the regular family visa route under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will introduce a short-term humanitarian visa scheme for people with family in the UK who have been made homeless by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government currently has no plans to create specific schemes for those impacted by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria to join family members in the UK. Existing visa routes for those wishing to come to the UK are already available.
The UK continues to provide lifesaving and emergency support, coordinating closely with the Turkish government and United Nations in Syria to ensure our support meets the needs on the ground and that we can stay responsive to emerging needs.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether new spouse and partner visa applications are offered priority service after they have been submitted.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
From 9 January 2023, UKVI re-introduced priority visa services for customers with an outstanding family overseas visa application.
Priority visa services for new family overseas visa applications will be made available from 20 February 2023.
Super Priority visa services are currently offered for individuals applying for family leave to remain and family indefinite leave to remain applications from within the UK, and this service has been available throughout 2022.
Customers who submit a family overseas visa application prior to 20 February 2023 will be offered the opportunity to use the Priority visa service in line with the current offer for customers who have an outstanding application.
Data on the number of applicants retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended does not form part of any current transparency data and is not published.
However, the transparency data does include a range of processing and service standard data and can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
UKVI are offering the Priority visa service to customers with existing family visa applications in date order. Customers with the oldest outstanding family visa applications have been contacted first in fairness to those who have waited the longest in the queue. Alongside this, work has continued to reduce standard processing times for family visa applicants currently awaiting a decision.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants have been retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended for spouse visa applicants in March 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
From 9 January 2023, UKVI re-introduced priority visa services for customers with an outstanding family overseas visa application.
Priority visa services for new family overseas visa applications will be made available from 20 February 2023.
Super Priority visa services are currently offered for individuals applying for family leave to remain and family indefinite leave to remain applications from within the UK, and this service has been available throughout 2022.
Customers who submit a family overseas visa application prior to 20 February 2023 will be offered the opportunity to use the Priority visa service in line with the current offer for customers who have an outstanding application.
Data on the number of applicants retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended does not form part of any current transparency data and is not published.
However, the transparency data does include a range of processing and service standard data and can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
UKVI are offering the Priority visa service to customers with existing family visa applications in date order. Customers with the oldest outstanding family visa applications have been contacted first in fairness to those who have waited the longest in the queue. Alongside this, work has continued to reduce standard processing times for family visa applicants currently awaiting a decision.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
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 removing priority service fees for applicants who have waited beyond the usual service standard.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
From 9 January 2023, UKVI re-introduced priority visa services for customers with an outstanding family overseas visa application.
Priority visa services for new family overseas visa applications will be made available from 20 February 2023.
Super Priority visa services are currently offered for individuals applying for family leave to remain and family indefinite leave to remain applications from within the UK, and this service has been available throughout 2022.
Customers who submit a family overseas visa application prior to 20 February 2023 will be offered the opportunity to use the Priority visa service in line with the current offer for customers who have an outstanding application.
Data on the number of applicants retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended does not form part of any current transparency data and is not published.
However, the transparency data does include a range of processing and service standard data and can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
UKVI are offering the Priority visa service to customers with existing family visa applications in date order. Customers with the oldest outstanding family visa applications have been contacted first in fairness to those who have waited the longest in the queue. Alongside this, work has continued to reduce standard processing times for family visa applicants currently awaiting a decision.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when Priority and Super Priority visa services will be fully reinstated for spouse visa applicants.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
From 9 January 2023, UKVI re-introduced priority visa services for customers with an outstanding family overseas visa application.
Priority visa services for new family overseas visa applications will be made available from 20 February 2023.
Super Priority visa services are currently offered for individuals applying for family leave to remain and family indefinite leave to remain applications from within the UK, and this service has been available throughout 2022.
Customers who submit a family overseas visa application prior to 20 February 2023 will be offered the opportunity to use the Priority visa service in line with the current offer for customers who have an outstanding application.
Data on the number of applicants retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended does not form part of any current transparency data and is not published.
However, the transparency data does include a range of processing and service standard data and can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
UKVI are offering the Priority visa service to customers with existing family visa applications in date order. Customers with the oldest outstanding family visa applications have been contacted first in fairness to those who have waited the longest in the queue. Alongside this, work has continued to reduce standard processing times for family visa applicants currently awaiting a decision.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to get back to the three-week service standard for processing Skilled Worker visa applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has re-allocated resources following the conclusion of the seasonal student visa application surge and recruited additional staff to deal with the extremely high demand. As a result, we expect the time taken to assess a skilled work visa application continues to reduce.
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of applications and granted applications of the Skilled Worker visa are published in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes(opens in a new tab) dataset, respectively.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time was for Skilled Worker visa applications in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has re-allocated resources following the conclusion of the seasonal student visa application surge and recruited additional staff to deal with the extremely high demand. As a result, we expect the time taken to assess a skilled work visa application continues to reduce.
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of applications and granted applications of the Skilled Worker visa are published in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes(opens in a new tab) dataset, respectively.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Skilled Worker visas were live as of 20 October 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has re-allocated resources following the conclusion of the seasonal student visa application surge and recruited additional staff to deal with the extremely high demand. As a result, we expect the time taken to assess a skilled work visa application continues to reduce.
The Home Office publishes data on visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release(opens in a new tab)’. Data on the number of applications and granted applications of the Skilled Worker visa are published in tables Vis_D01 and Vis_D02 of the entry clearance visas applications and outcomes(opens in a new tab) dataset, respectively.