Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to (a) reverse changes made to the eligibility criteria for the Skilled Worker visa announced on 4 December 2023 and (b) bring forward revised eligibility criteria for the minimum salary for that visa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
I refer the honourable member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by the Home Secretary on 30 July [Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament].
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to grant full British citizenship to Hong Kong (a) British National (Overseas) and (b) British Dependent Territories Citizen passport holders who move to the UK.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
British National (Overseas) (BN(O) passport holders may apply for a BN(O) visa which entitles them, and their dependent family members, to reside in the UK. After 5 years’ qualifying residence, and being free from immigration time restrictions for a further year, they may apply for British citizenship.
People from Hong Kong who were British Dependent Territories Citizens (BDTCs), and did not register as a BN(O), lost their BDTC status when Hong Kong returned to the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997. If a person from Hong Kong did not register as a BN(O) and would have become stateless, they became a British Overseas Citizen (BOC).
British nationals, including BN(O)s and BOCs, can apply for registration as a British citizen if they meet the requirements in section 4(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981, based on a period of residence in the UK. Those who do not hold a form of British nationality can apply for naturalisation if they live in the UK.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to review the impact of the Electronic Travel Authorisation on (a) movement and (b) the tourism industry on the island of Ireland.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is in the process of reviewing a number of Home Office policies including this one.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what routes are available for Syrians in Lebanon seeking asylum in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those who need it through a number of safe and legal routes. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, including people from Syria, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through our existing global resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his asylum policies of the treatment of Syrians in Lebanon by the Lebanese government.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Our assessment of the situation for Syrian nationals is set out in the relevant country policy and information notes which focus on conditions within Syria and are available on the Gov.uk website.
There are no plans to produce a country policy and information note on Syrian nationals in Lebanon at this time.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels are being used to house asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office has been clear that the use of hotels is a temporary and short-term measure to ensure we meet our statutory obligation to accommodate destitute asylum seekers. We have already made significant progress by ending the use of 100 hotels by 31 March 2024, including 6 in Northern Ireland.
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis. The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers by region.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on how his Department can take steps to help tackle labour shortages in the fishing industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Skilled Worker route has a number of eligible occupations linked to the fishing sector, and the sector also benefits from a generous package of support provided by the Home Office when it comes to making visa applications.
Nevertheless, labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of his Department's policies on tackling labour shortages in the fishing industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Skilled Worker route has a number of eligible occupations linked to the fishing sector, and the sector also benefits from a generous package of support provided by the Home Office when it comes to making visa applications.
Nevertheless, labour shortages cannot be solved through the immigration system alone and there is regular engagement between departments when developing policy. We will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the immigration health surcharge for people who already (a) work and (b) pay taxes in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government has no plans to remove the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for temporary migrants who work and pay taxes in the UK.
It is right those granted temporary immigration permission for more than six months should contribute to the sustainability of our NHS. Having paid the IHS, temporary migrants can access the NHS as soon as they arrive in the UK and will only be charged for services that a permanent resident would also pay for, such as prescription charges in England.
Although some temporary migrants will pay tax and National Insurance contributions after they start work in the UK, they will not on average have made the same financial contribution to the NHS which most UK nationals and permanent residents have made, or will make, over the course of their working lives. It is an individual’s immigration status, not their tax and National Insurance contributions, which governs their access to the NHS.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of extending visas for people resident in the UK on Ukrainian sponsorship schemes (a) indefinitely and (b) beyond 18 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
To provide certainty about the future of the Ukraine visa schemes, on 18 February we announced that existing Ukraine scheme visa holders will be able to apply for permission to remain in the UK for an additional 18 months under a new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme set to open in early 2025 (before the first UKR scheme visas start to expire in March 2025).
We keep our Ukraine schemes under consistent review in line with the ongoing war, engaging closely with other Government departments, the Ukrainian government and our counterparts globally, including governments within Europe who are hosting Ukrainians under the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (or similar).
The Ukrainian government have been clear about their strong desire for the future repatriation of its citizens to help rebuild Ukraine when it is safe to do so. It is important that our approach respects these wishes and therefore our offer of sanctuary remains temporary in nature and does not lead to settlement in the UK.