Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visa officers are employed at the British Deputy High Commission in Mumbai; and how many such officers were employed at that Commission in (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.

Decision making on the majority of visa applications submitted in Western India was transferred from Mumbai to Delhi in a gradual process that started in 2014. The movement of work has led to a reduction in the number of visa officers (in this context taken to mean Entry Clearance Officers) in Mumbai over this period. The movement of work is part of UKVI’s global ‘hub and spoke’ model which maximises operational flexibility while ensuring excellent customer service and value for money to the taxpayer. These logistical changes relate to the decision making function for applications and do not affect customers applying for their visas or the service offered. The official statistics for 2016 show that 99% of visa decisions were made within UKVI’s 15 working day service standard.