Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to refund fast track payments made by applicants for partner visas where the processing of those applications has been suspended as a result of the legal challenge to the Government's minimum income requirement.

A temporary hold on decision-making in respect of some partner visa applications was introduced on 22 February 2017 so that the implications of the Supreme Court judgment handed down that day in MM (Lebanon) & Others could be considered.

UKVI communicated this to potential priority visa service customers on 27 February 2017 and will consider any refund requests from customers who paid the priority service fee for a settlement visa before 27 February 2017 and whose application was put on hold by the Home Office. These requests should be made via the usual enquiry helpline: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration/about/complaints-procedure#how-to-complain

Both UK Visas and Immigration and their commercial partners make clear in communications to customers that the priority visa service fee will not be refunded if the visa is refused or takes longer than the publicised processing times, other than in exceptional circumstances.