Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many partner visa applications are affected by the suspension of processing applications 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 so that the implications of the Supreme Court judgment handed down that day in MM (Lebanon) & Others could be considered.

The partner visa applications affected are those under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules which fall to be refused and which involve a child or do not meet the minimum income requirement. The temporary hold will be lifted once the judgment's findings have been addressed.