Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing those on the 10-year route to settlement to switch to the five-year route.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Those who meet all eligibility and specified evidential requirements of the Family Immigration Rules, will be granted on a five-year route to settlement (granted in two periods of 30 months, with a third application for indefinite leave to remain). Those who cannot or do not meet these requirements, or seek to rely on their private life, will instead have a longer route to settlement: 10 years (granted in four periods of 30 months, with a fifth application for indefinite leave to remain). This reflects our obligations under Article 8 of the ECHR.
A person who is on a 5-year route must meet all of the suitability, eligibility and evidential requirements at every application stage, to stay on this route. If they do not, they may be granted on a different basis, including on a longer 10-year route. Where this is the case, they may shorten the time in the UK before they are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain, by starting the 5-year route again when the requirements of those Rules are met.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the number of biometric appointments available in visa application centres in Berlin in the week commencing 28 March 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office works closely with its commercial partners to ensure sufficient appointments are made available in each location to meet demand.
At the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, we ensured Ukrainian customers were prioritised for biometric appointments in neighbouring countries.
Since the new online Ukraine Family Scheme route went live, and customers in possession of a valid Ukrainian/endorsed government passport no longer needed to attend a Visa Application Centre (VAC) to enrol their biometrics, we have observed fewer Ukrainian customers are attending VACs for biometric appointments.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help people holding refugee status in Ukraine to access the (a) Ukraine Family Scheme and (b) Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Ukraine Family Scheme allows immediate and extended family members to join their relatives in the UK. The UK-based sponsoring relative must be a British citizen, a person who is present and settled in the UK, a person in the UK with refugee leave or with humanitarian protection, or an EEA or Swiss national in the UK with limited leave under Appendix EU.
The Homes for Ukraine Scheme is open to Ukrainian nationals who were residents in Ukraine prior to 1 January 2022. It is also open to their immediate family members and family members of such Ukrainian nationals, including a spouse, a civil partner, an unmarried partner, children under-18, parent if you are under-18, fiancé(e) or a proposed civil partner. These individuals may be of other nationalities.
Under either Scheme, individuals holding refugee status can apply and come to the UK providing they meet the wider overall eligibility requirements.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on reviewing the Overseas Domestic Worker visa; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that relevant civil society actors can participate in that review.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The effectiveness of visa arrangements for Overseas Domestic Workers continues to be under review.
We plan to engage with non-governmental organisations and expert practitioners in spring in order to modernise and make improvements to the route.