Up to 30 September 2008, a total of 178,230 biometric visas have been issued to children under the age of 16. A breakdown of this figure by age is not readily available from our records and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the following table shows the total number of visa applications received from children under 16 who have provided their biometric data, broken down by age group, which I hope is helpful.
Age Applications 0-5 19,142 6-11 108,386 12-15 112,474 Total under 16 240,002 Notes: 1. Children under the age of five are not required to provide their biometric data. The figure for the 0 to five-year-old group therefore relates to five-year-olds only. 2. These figure are unpublished and should be treated as provisional.
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The rollout of the biometric visas programme began on 1 January 2006 and was completed at the end of 2007. By 30 September 2008, a total of 178,230 children under the age of 16 years had been issued with visas after supplying their fingerprints.
Note:
This data is unpublished and should be treated as provisional
Source:
Central Reference System