To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued on the time elapsing between an appeal determination being issued by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and a visa being issued to the applicant. (291932)

Guidance on Appeals (INF 19) is available on the UK Border Agency’s Visa Services website:

www.ukvisas.gov.uk

This advises appellants that it can take up to six weeks for the visa section to be notified through official channels that an appeal has been allowed, and that the visa section will then contact the appellant. Visa sections are expected to do so within three weeks of receiving the notification. The guidance does not go on to indicate how long it will then take for the visa to be issued as this will depend on how quickly the appellant returns their passport to the visa section and the number of checks that need to be carried out.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department plans to implement the decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in respect of the appeal OA/46462/2008; what the average period between a tribunal decision in favour of an appellant in an entry clearance case and the granting of entry clearance was in the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. (292046)

Although appeal number OA/46462/2008 was allowed on 2 March 2009, notification was not received in the Visa Section in Islamabad until 10 June. A letter was sent to the appellant on 15 June requesting submission of the passport and this was subsequently received on 2 July. Verification checks were then undertaken and the visa was issued on 8 October. The processing was delayed due to a backlog of appeal cases in Islamabad. The UK Border Agency plans to reduce this to near zero levels by mid-November. Turnaround times in allowed appeal cases will then be significantly quicker.