Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase capacity in the context of increased refugee applications; whether she has plans to recruit more staff to handle those applications; what assessment she has made of the potential impact of prioritising Ukrainian refugee applications on outstanding refugee applications from other countries; and what assessment she has made of reports that people applying for visas in African countries have been told they will have to wait longer because of the situation in the Ukraine.

The Home Office is currently prioritising applications made under its Ukraine Schemes in response to the humanitarian crisis arising from the invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, customers with standard applications in study, work, and family routes may experience some delays in the processing of their application. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. PV and SPV remains available for visitor applications but can only be purchased via the commercial partner website. This applies in all locations, not just African countries.

The Home Office monitor performance constantly and try to maximise delivery efficiency. We are also undertaking a review of our service standards for visas and leave to remain routes.