Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will reconsider the £30,000 salary threshold for immigrant workers.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
On 24 June 2019, the Government asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to consider the operation of salary thresholds in the future immigration system, including the impact of exemptions from minimum salary thresholds.
The MAC is due to report by January 2020.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, where the assisted digital locations in Scotland will be; and what type of visa applicants will be able to use that service.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Since September 2017, UK Visas & Immigration has offered customers across the UK a free ‘Assisted Digital’ service. The service is designed to help people who need to use UK Visas & Immigration online services but don’t have the appropriate access, skills or confidence to do so on their own. Support can be provided over the phone, at a local centre or in home with a trained tutor.
As of the 20th June, across the UK, there are over 300 centres across the UK supplemented by a network of over 60 tutors. In Scotland, there are 2 tutors offering in home support and 43 centres offering face to face support.
Customers should contact the Assisted Digital helpline on 03333 445 675 or by texting the word “VISA” to 07537 416 944 and they will be able to advise on the closest support centre.
The Assisted Digital service is available to all UKVI customers except for those applying through the following immigration routes, as support should be provided to them by their sponsoring employers or colleges
• Tier 1 (including entrepreneur and exceptional talent)
• Tier 2 (people working for a specific employer in the UK)
• Tier 4 (students in the UK)
In January 2019 the service was extended to support EU citizens and their family members applying for the EU Settlement Scheme.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many appointment slots are available each week at the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services Centre in Aberdeen; and how many of those appointment slots are filled each week.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Data on the number of people seen at UK VCAS Centres from postcodes beginning AB are not published. This information could only be provided by interrogation of individual case records, which could only be achieved at disproportionate costs.
The UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service centre in Aberdeen, which provides enhanced services to customers, has 21 slots available per week. On average 87% of those slots have been filled from 3 December to 5 April. In response to an increase in demand for appointments at this service centre, UK Visas & Immigration’s delivery partner, Sopra Steria Ltd have increased their appointment slots by >50% from 9 April.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people with AB postcodes have been seen at UKVCAS centres broken down by (a) month and (b) UKVCAS centre.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Data on the number of people seen at UK VCAS Centres from postcodes beginning AB are not published. This information could only be provided by interrogation of individual case records, which could only be achieved at disproportionate costs.
The UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service centre in Aberdeen, which provides enhanced services to customers, has 21 slots available per week. On average 87% of those slots have been filled from 3 December to 5 April. In response to an increase in demand for appointments at this service centre, UK Visas & Immigration’s delivery partner, Sopra Steria Ltd have increased their appointment slots by >50% from 9 April.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people with AB postcodes have been seen at service and support centres broken down by (a) month and (b) support centre.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Unfortunately the data requested is not recorded in a form that can be reported.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to section 66 of the Immigration Act 2014, what the timeframe is for his Department to undertake a review of his powers to deprive individuals of their citizenship for the period from July 2015 to July 2018.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The first review of the power to deprive an individual of British citizenship under section 40(4A) of the British Nationality Act 1981, as provided for by section 66 of the Immigration Act 2014, was conducted by David Anderson QC, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. His report was published in April 2016, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518120/David_Anderson_QC_-_CITIZENSHIP_REMOVAL__web_.pdf
Max Hill QC stepped down from his role as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in October 2018. The next review of these powers will be commissioned following the appointment of the new Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the 2018-19 Main Estimates, published in April 2018, how much funding his Department has allocated to prepare for the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
For the financial year 2018-19, the department will receive an allocation of £395 million from HM Treasury to continue preparing for the UK to leave the EU. The Main Estimate will be amended through the Supplementary Estimate process later this year to reflect this.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employers have (a) applied for and (b) been refused UK Visa and Immigration sponsorship status in the last four years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The specific information requested is not included in statistics published by the Home Office.
The number of new sponsor licence applications, and the number of sponsors registered on points based system (PBS) routes, is published on the Home Office website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of applications for visitor visas from each country were accepted in the most recent 12-month period for which data is available.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Applications for visit visas are considered against Appendix V of the Immigration Rules and on a case by case basis. Detailed information on how UK Visas and Immigration makes decisions on visitor cases is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visit-guidance
Information on total entry clearance visas (the majority of which are visitor visas) broken down by nationality and outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2017).
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for Directive 2014/41/EU on the European Investigation Order in criminal matters to be transposed into UK law.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Government is taking the necessary measures to comply with this Directive by 22 May 2017.