Entry Clearances: Married People

Mr. Oaten
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of applications for spouse settlement visas was rejected in each of the last five years; how much revenue accrued in fees in respect of reapplications; and what the percentage increase in fee charges was in each of the last five years.

Mr. Woolas
[holding answer 22 February 2010]: The following table shows the percentage of applications for spouse/civil partner settlement visas that were refused in each of the last five financial years:

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|FY                                                        |Percentage refused|
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|2004-05                                                   |15                |
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|2005-06                                                   |16                |
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|2006-07                                                   |16                |
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|2007-08                                                   |19                |
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|2008-09                                                   |21                |
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|Source:Internal management information—International Group|                  |
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Revenue accrued in respect of re-submissions cannot be provided as it is not possible to extract this information from the recording system.

The following table shows the percentage increase for fee charges for spouse settlement visas in each of the last five financial years.

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|                          |Percentage fee increase|Fee (£)|
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|2004-05                   |0                      |260    |
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|2005-06                   |0                      |260    |
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|2006-07                   |0                      |260    |
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|2007-08                   |92                     |500    |
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|2008-09                   |3                      |515    |
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|Source:Published Fee Rates|                       |       |
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