Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many transit visas were issued to non-EEA nationals to enable them to work (1) on UK-based fishing vessels, and (2) on cruise and other ships operating from British ports, in each of the years 2015, 2016, and 2017; and whether and how many seamans' discharge books were issued in addition to transit visas.

The Home Office does not routinely collate the specific information requested. To obtain this information would require the examination of individual records, and incur disproportionate cost

The Home Office publishes data on visa application volumes, including total numbers of transit visas issued, online at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2017