Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has undertaken an equalities impact assessment on the potential effects of the planned increases in (a) visa fees and (b) the Immigration Health Surcharge on those who will be expected to pay them.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office has undertaken equalities impact assessments for the visa fee and Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) increases.
Application fees will increase across a range of immigration and nationality routes, including for people coming to live, work and study, and for applications to remain in the UK. The routes which are impacted, and the levels of increase will be set out within the regulations to be laid in Autumn and are subject to usual parliamentary process.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing support to migrants who may be unable to afford planned increases to the cost of (a) visa fees and (b) the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Where a person applying on a family and human rights immigration route is unable to afford the visa fee and the IHS and where this is backed by clear and compelling evidence provided by the individual, the fees may be waived if they are unaffordable.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's timescales are for introducing changes to the levels of (a) visa fees and (b) the Immigration Health Surcharge; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Regulations will be laid in the Autumn that will amend the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018 and Immigration (Health Charge) Order 2015 to set new visa fee levels and increase the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) respectively. The exact date that visa fee and IHS increases will come into effect is subject to parliamentary process.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press release entitled Thousands of asylum seekers to be moved out of hotels, published by her Department on 5 June 2023, in which five countries the deport first, appeal process has restarted; and in which 21 countries her Department is seeking to set up video rooms after receiving necessary consents to establishing live link evidence.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Secretary wrote to the Chair of HASC on 30 August 2023, with the details of the first five countries; the letter will be published by HASC in due course.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her response to the Inspection of the immigration system by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, published in December 2022, if she will publish (a) her proposed review of the Seasonal Worker route and (b) the communications and engagement roadmap for the agricultural sector.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Following the Inspection by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders, the Home Office signalled our intention to complete a review of the seasonal worker route. The Government will publish information pertaining to the operation of the Seasonal Worker route in due course.
We have also progressed our commitment to develop a communications and engagement plan. The Seasonal Work Engagement plan forms part of a wider strategy to refresh engagement with all sectors serviced by UK Visas and Immigration.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any ministerial directions have been issued on proposals in the Illegal Immigration Bill.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
No Ministerial Directions have been issued on proposals in the Illegal Migration Bill. All Ministerial Directions are published on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-directions.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children from Ukraine (a) submitted an application, (b) were granted a visa and (c) were refused a visa to come to the UK in the first quarter of 2023; and how many (i) withdrew an application to come to the UK before it was decided and (ii) arrived in the UK in the same time period.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information on the number of applications received and number of arrivals in the UK can be found here Ukraine Visa Schemes: visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Details of the age of those who have arrived is available here Statistics on Ukrainians in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
All unaccompanied children’s applications are considered in line with the Immigration Rules and Guidance. However, data on the number of children who were considered to be unaccompanied is not published in the public domain.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the children who arrived in the UK in 2022 under the Ukraine Schemes were neither travelling with nor joining a parent or guardian in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information on the number of applications received and number of arrivals in the UK can be found here Ukraine Visa Schemes: visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Details of the age of those who have arrived is available here Statistics on Ukrainians in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
All unaccompanied children’s applications are considered in line with the Immigration Rules and Guidance. However, data on the number of children who were considered to be unaccompanied is not published in the public domain.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many grants of (a) settled and (b) pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme were made only after the applicant had had to provide further evidence of residence.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
That data can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce processing times for limited leave to remain extension applications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
UK Visas and Immigration are currently operating within their global customer service standards across all of the main legal migration routes for customers who make an entry clearance application from overseas and for applications made inside the UK.
Details of current performance against these customer service standards are updated regularly and can be found at:
Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).