Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Zeichner Excerpts
Monday 3rd July 2023

(1 year, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Robert Jenrick Portrait Robert Jenrick
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At the core of this question is: who decides who comes to this country? Is it for the Government and Parliament, or is it for people smugglers and human traffickers? Those of us on the Government Benches know exactly which side of the debate we are on; we want to stop the boats, and we want to secure our borders.

Daniel Zeichner Portrait Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)
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The family of my constituent who fled Sudan have been stuck in Egypt for more than two months awaiting a spousal visa. Four of the group of five have UK passports. Can the Minister tell us how long he would expect people to be waiting in this kind of situation when they have suffered such distress and anxiety?

Robert Jenrick Portrait Robert Jenrick
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I would be happy to look into the case for the hon. Gentleman, but I can say to him that we are processing applications in third countries within service standards. We have closed the visa application centre in Khartoum for obvious reasons to protect the security of our staff and contractors, but we have teams in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and in other close countries who are there to support applicants, such as his constituents.