Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether His Majesty's Passport Office has considered introducing an option for payment for passports in instalments over 10 years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
An instalments approach would place a considerable administrative burden on HM Passport Office to seek payment when they are due and take action where payment is not made.
Where a fee is required, the full payment must accompany the application.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) sham marriages and (b) relationships of convenience on the number of (i) spousal and (ii) partner visas applications; and how many cases were identified in each of the last three years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
If UKVI suspect a relationship may not be genuine, further checks can be conducted, which may include a relationship interview with the applicant and sponsor. If the relationship is found to be non-genuine the application may be refused.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there is a quota for the number of tourist visas granted within a given time period.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
No. There has been no change in policy towards tourism from that in place under the previous government.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish a list of the (a) mechanisms and (b) grounds for appeal of an Entry Clearance Officer's decision to refuse a tourist visa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
There is no right of appeal against refusal of a visit visa as this was removed by Parliament in 2013. Where someone applies for a visit visa and is refused, it is open to them to make a new application, in which they can address any reasons given in the refusal and provide any new evidence.
There is also the ability to seek judicial review of a refusal decision or to use the complaints procedure by which applicants can raise concerns about the service provided to them. The complaints procedure is set out on the UK Visas and Immigration pages on gov.uk: Complaints procedure - UK Visas and Immigration - GOV.UK.
The Home Office publishes further guidance on immigration appeals, which is available here: Current rights of appeal.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on subsequent family migration patterns of people with Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made cost benefit analysis of the Health and Care Worker visa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Impact Assessments evaluating the impacts of policy changes to the Health and Care Worker route since it was established can be found at: Impact assessments covering migration policy - GOV.UK. These provide insight into specific economic impacts of the route, addressing matters such as direct and indirect business impacts and the visa fee revenue collected by the Home Office.
Further analysis of the economic impact of those on the Health and Care Worker visa can be found in Chapter 1 of the independent Migration Advisory Committee’s 2024 Annual Report (Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) annual report, 2024 (accessible) - GOV.UK). The OBR also assesses the potential economic implications of net migration, to which those on the Health and Care Worker visa contribute, as part of their Economic and Fiscal outlook (Net migration forecast and its impact on the economy - Office for Budget Responsibility).
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her department records the (a) employment and (b) earnings of (i) people who arrived in the UK on a Health and Care Worker visa and (ii) their dependents.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Every migrant is required to submit a valid certificate of sponsorship (CoS) that details their employment and earnings whenever they apply for a skilled worker (including a Health and Care) visa. These details remain on our Sponsor Management System.
Home Office staff carry out compliance checks on the employers that sponsor the migrant workers to verify their roles and earnings. No equivalent data is currently collected in respect of their dependents.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the impact of people who arrive in the UK on the health and care visa and their dependents on the economy since that scheme was established.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Impact Assessments evaluating the impacts of policy changes to the Health and Care Worker route since it was established can be found at Impact assessments covering migration policy - GOV.UK. These provide insight into economic impacts of the route, addressing matters such as direct and indirect business impacts and the visa fee revenue collected by the Home Office.
Further analysis of the economic impact of those on the Health and Care Worker visa can be found in Chapter 1 of the independent Migration Advisory Committee’s 2024 Annual Report (Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) annual report, 2024 (accessible) - GOV.UK). The OBR also assesses the potential economic implications of net migration, to which those on the Health and Care Worker visa contribute, as part of their Economic and Fiscal outlook (Net migration forecast and its impact on the economy - Office for Budget Responsibility).
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate with the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the potential impact of the number of people granted Health and Care Worker visas on the public finances since in the period since that visa was introduced; and how many of those people have since qualified for indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information requested is not centrally held, and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the impact of people who have arrived in the UK on the Skilled Worker Visa on the economy since that scheme was established.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Impact Assessments evaluating the impacts of policy changes to the Skilled Worker route since it was established can be found at Impact assessments covering migration policy - GOV.UK. These provide insight into economic impacts of the route, addressing matters such as direct and indirect business impacts and the visa fee revenue collected by the Home Office.
Further analysis of the economic impact of those on the Skilled Worker visa can be found in Chapters 1 and 2 of the independent Migration Advisory Committee’s 2024 Annual Report (Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) annual report, 2024 (accessible) - GOV.UK). The OBR also assesses the potential economic implications of net migration, to which those on the Skilled Worker visa contribute, as part of their Economic and Fiscal outlook (Net migration forecast and its impact on the economy - Office for Budget Responsibility).