Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) have been refunded by UKVI; and how much has been allocated for such refunds in each year since 2009.

The Home Office does not refund a fee if someone applies for leave in a given category if they do not meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules or other relevant legislation for that category, nor does the Home Office issue a refund where an application is withdrawn and resource costs have been incurred.

However, the Home Office may receive applications for which there is no legal basis to keep the fee, for example where incomplete applications are received that cannot be processed, or where applications do not require the payment of a fee. Where an application cannot be processed due to being incomplete, the Home Office return any fee paid minus an administration charge. Should a customer make a payment when they are not required to do so, the amount paid will be returned in full.

The Home Office does not separately record such transactions. To compile a single record of all returns of visa payments for the period requested would require us look at each individual application, and could not be done except at disproportionate costs.