Entry Clearances Mr. Carswell To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of applications for family visit visas from (a) India, (b) Nigeria, (c) Bangladesh and (d) Pakistan have been refused in each of the last six years. Mr. Woolas The number of applications family visit visas (a) received and (b) refused at UK visa-issuing posts in India, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan in each of the last five calendar years is shown in the following tables, together with refusal rates for each country/year. Reliable data are not held for years prior to 2004. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Applications received|Refused|Refusal rate (percentage)|Applications received|Refused|Refusal rate (percentage)| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bangladesh|6,703 |2,169 |43 |9,356 |3,458 |36 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |India |83,089 |15,648 |19 |99,341 |20,024 |21 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nigeria |41,157 |15,788 |41 |60,065 |25,125 |44 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Pakistan |31,932 |6,727 |36 |57,122 |25,901 |43 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Applications received|Refused|Refusal rate (percentage)|Applications received|Refused|Refusal rate (percentage)| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bangladesh|12,760 |4,547 |36 |13,909 |5,351 |40 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |India |108,572 |20,548 |19 |108,233 |22,193 |21 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nigeria |59,276 |30,353 |52 |52,042 |25,309 |46 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Pakistan |86,664 |28,575 |33 |75,769 |31,611 |41 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Applications received|Refused|Refusal rate (percentage)| -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bangladesh|11,381 |3,966 |35 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |India |98,645 |16,647 |17 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nigeria |42,612 |18,532 |43 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Pakistan |56,477 |28,750 |47 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- The data are unpublished and should be treated as provisional. Chris Grayling To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) visa entry clearance officers and (b) risk assessment officers are employed in (i) Islamabad, (ii) Pakistan and (iii) Afghanistan. Alan Johnson For security and efficiency reasons, we have transferred visa decision-making for Pakistan to our visa sections in Abu Dhabi and the UK. We have 34 Entry Clearance Officers (ECOs) in Abu Dhabi, including seasonal relief staff, and a full staffing capacity of five ECOs in the UK working on Pakistan casework. 13 ECOs currently remain in Islamabad. Risk and Liaison Overseas Network staff are employed on a risk assessment basis. We do not have a visa office in Afghanistan.