To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects a determination to be made on visa application number VC 005578 submitted on 7 September 2006 at the British embassy in Zimbabwe. (154309)

Our embassy in Harare issued visa application number VC 005578 on 20 August, following the authentication of the applicant's documents by the Zimbabwean authorities on 16 August.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the average time was that the British embassy in Zimbabwe had to wait to receive a response from the Zimbabwean authorities for the authentication of documents submitted with a visa application in the latest period for which figures are available. (154310)

The waiting time for our embassy in Harare to receive a response from the Zimbabwean authorities for the authentication of official documents submitted with a visa application over the last 12 months has varied from four weeks to 12 months.

Visa section staff at our embassy in Harare have no control over the time the Zimbabwean authorities take to respond to such requests, and continue to chase any request for authentication of documents.