Entry Clearances

Anne Main
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken was to process an application for a spousal visa in each of the last six months.

Mr. Woolas
The global average processing time for spouse visas in each of the six months from August 2009 to January 2010 was as follows:

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|Month         |Working days to resolve|
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|August 2009   |28                     |
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|September 2009|33                     |
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|October 2009  |25                     |
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|November 2009 |18                     |
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|December 2009 |16                     |
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|January 2010  |20                     |
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The target is to process 95 per cent. of settlement visas within 60 working days.

Anne Main
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) mean and (b) median time was to process an application for leave to remain in December 2009.

Mr. Woolas
The information requested is as follows:

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|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |Number|
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|Mean                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |40    |
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|Median                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |48    |
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|Note: These figures are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change. Figures relate to cases which were decided by 3 March 2010.|      |
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Anne Main
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest-standing application for leave to remain is for which processing is yet to be completed by his Department.

Mr. Woolas
The information requested is not available centrally and could be provided only by examination of individual case files. Long standing applications arise for a variety of reasons.