Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce decision-making timeframes for (a) visa and (b) asylum applicants; and if she will make it her policy to grant Discretionary Leave to Remain to any applicant waiting more than a year for a decision on their application.

The Home Office is committed to ensuring that all applications are considered without unnecessary delay.

Information on our immigration routes with service standards and whether they have been processed against these standards is available as part of our transparency data, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data#uk-visas-and-immigration

If an application is deemed complex and expected to take longer than the standard processing timescale, UKVI will write to the customer within the standard processing time and explain what will happen next.

The published information on processing times for complex/ non straightforward visa applications is published as part of the Migration Transparency data, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data

All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits on the evidence available to the decision maker. We are committed to ensuring that asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay, so that those who need protection are granted as soon as possible.

Discretionary Leave (DL) is granted outside the Immigration Rules in accordance with published Home Office policy. DL covers those few individuals who do not qualify for any leave under the Rules, but where there are exceptional or compassionate reasons for allowing them to remain in the UK; as such, it is intended to be used sparingly and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. Delays in decision making occur for a number of reasons, some of which are outside of the Home Office’s control, and it would generally not be appropriate to grant DL under these circumstances.