Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to (a) review and (b) increase the number of staff recruited to his Department's Family and Human Rights Unit in the context of trends in the proportion of people relying on their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in applications for family visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Yes, we have both recruited new staff and redeployed existing staff to this area of work.
Nov. 23 2023
Source Page: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023Found: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023
Nov. 23 2023
Source Page: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023Found: Visas and citizenship data: Q3 2023
Mentions:
1: None believe have been used for intelligence purposes; and impose new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas - Speech Link
2: Lord Coaker (Lab - Life peer) It is also the case that we have still not had a full update on the scale of risks from golden visas. - Speech Link
3: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con - Life peer) We are imposing new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas, including capping the length of time Russian - Speech Link
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to seek negotiations with the EU on extending the duration of Schengen Area visas for UK citizens travelling to the EU for longer than 90 days.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Both the UK and the EU allow for visa-free short-term travel in line with their arrangements for Third Country Nationals. The UK allows EU citizens short-term visa-free travel for up to six months. Meanwhile, the Schengen Borders Code allows for Third Country Nationals to travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; this is standard for third countries travelling to the EU. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.
Mentions:
1: James Cleverly (Con - Braintree) to £38,700—and increasing the minimum income requirements for family visas. - Speech Link
2: Patrick Grady (SNP - Glasgow North) Is it not also irrational and unreasonable for the United Kingdom to offer humanitarian visas to people - Speech Link
3: James Murray (LAB - Ealing North) His parents successfully applied for visas to visit him in the autumn last year, but they were unable - Speech Link
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) the increase in (i) visa and (ii) Immigration Health Surcharge fees and (b) the removal of the ability of taught masters students to bring dependants on trends in the level of demand for graduate visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office produced Impact Assessments (IA) alongside the visa and Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) fee changes and the package of Student route reforms, including the change to dependant eligibility.
The Migration Advisory Committee are undertaking a review of the Graduate route. We will consider any evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason people on Ukraine visa schemes did not have visas automatically extended.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Although given consideration, it is not feasible to extend Ukraine scheme visas automatically. Automatic extension would require Ukrainians to confirm their residence in the UK and their willingness to have a visa extended, and so the possible customer benefits, and savings in process time, would be limited. Without requiring a registration process there would be a risk of not being able to contact all the eligible individuals which could lead to some Ukrainians being left without legal status.
The Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have had numerous discussions with the Ukrainian community, and there is currently an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement in place.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the removal of the ability of taught masters students to bring dependents on trends in the number of overseas female applicants for graduate visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office considers its Public Sector Equality Duty in the development of all policy. An Impact Assessment (IA) was also produced for the student dependant reforms.
In addition, the Migration Advisory Committee are currently undertaking a review of the Graduate route. We will consider any evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that student visas are not used solely to gain residence in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.