Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2020 to Question 73764 on Visas: Turkey, when she plans to publish guidance for ECAA applicants who have been unable to return to the UK or renew their leave because of illness or travel restrictions due to covid-19.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government remains committed to ensuring people are not unfairly impacted in terms of their immigration status as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Further guidance for European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) applicants who have been unable to return to the UK or renew their leave because of illness or travel restrictions due to Covid-19 will be published shortly.
Under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, the UK’s commitments to Turkish nationals exercising rights under the ECAA will continue throughout the transition period. Turkish workers, business persons and their family members will be able to apply for entry clearance or extension of their stay in the UK until the end of 2020 under existing arrangements.
All applications, provided they were submitted before 11pm GMT on 31 December 2020, will be decided in accordance with the existing rules and guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that ECAA entry clearance applications received prior to 31 December 2020 are processed in accordance with the rules in force prior to 31 December 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government remains committed to ensuring people are not unfairly impacted in terms of their immigration status as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Further guidance for European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) applicants who have been unable to return to the UK or renew their leave because of illness or travel restrictions due to Covid-19 will be published shortly.
Under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, the UK’s commitments to Turkish nationals exercising rights under the ECAA will continue throughout the transition period. Turkish workers, business persons and their family members will be able to apply for entry clearance or extension of their stay in the UK until the end of 2020 under existing arrangements.
All applications, provided they were submitted before 11pm GMT on 31 December 2020, will be decided in accordance with the existing rules and guidance.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
What recent assessment she has made of trends in the time taken by UK Visas and Immigration to process one-year visa extensions for healthcare workers.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Mr Speaker, I would like, with your permission to group questions 30 and 31.
Up till close on Friday, provisional management information shows we have concluded 5,954 free extensions for eligible healthcare workers and dependents.
On average, straightforward cases have been concluded within four weeks of receiving necessary information from employers to enable the extension to be undertaken.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to allow asylum seekers to work after they have been waiting six months for a decision on their case.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Asylum seekers can work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months, through no fault of their own. Those allowed to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is published by the Home Office and based on expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.
It is important to distinguish between those who need protection and those seeking to work here, who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. Our wider policy could be undermined if migrants bypassed work visa Rules by lodging unfounded asylum claims here.
Asylum seeker right to work is a complex issue. A review of the policy is ongoing, and we are considering the evidence put forward on the issue.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to allow asylum seekers to work in roles in addition to those on the Shortage Occupation List.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Asylum seekers can work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months, through no fault of their own. Those allowed to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is published by the Home Office and based on expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.
It is important to distinguish between those who need protection and those seeking to work here, who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. Our wider policy could be undermined if migrants bypassed work visa Rules by lodging unfounded asylum claims here.
Asylum seeker right to work is a complex issue. A review of the policy is ongoing, and we are considering the evidence put forward on the issue.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public paper of providing support to asylum seekers who are unable to work because their case has not yet been heard.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office has not made an estimate of this cost.
Asylum seekers can work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months, through no fault of their own. Those allowed to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is published by the Home Office and based on expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.
It is important to distinguish between those who need protection and those seeking to work here, who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. Our wider policy could be undermined if migrants bypassed work visa Rules by lodging unfounded asylum claims here.
As part of the plans to speed up Asylum decision making, over the last 18 months, UK Visas and Immigration have increased the number of Asylum decision makers and support staff as part of a rolling recruitment campaign and mobilised a transformation programme that seeks to simplify, streamline and digitise processes.
Asked by: Baroness Keeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to enable people with European Community Association Agreement visas to (a) renew and (b) extend those visas whist outside the UK in the event that they cannot travel back to the UK during the covid-19 outbreak prior to their visa expiring; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government is committed to ensuring that people are not unfairly impacted in terms of their immigration status as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Those who are outside the UK when their European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) visa expires can apply, free of charge, for entry clearance as an ECAA business person so that they can return to the UK. On their return, they can seek to extend their leave where they are eligible for this.
Further guidance for ECAA applicants who have been unable to return to the UK or renew their leave because of illness or travel restrictions due to Covid-19 will be published shortly