Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many appointments UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services are making available each week.

We regularly review the number of customers who have made an application but are yet to book a UKVCAS appointment. The number is influenced by a range of factors and therefore is not a proxy for the number actually ‘waiting’ for an appointment. For example, our insight tells us some customers are unable to travel to a service point as they are shielding, others have chosen not to book/continue with their application due to a change in circumstances but have not yet withdrawn their application and some have deferred booking for other reasons.

During the summer months, following the COVID-19 closure on 27 March and subsequent reopening of UKVCAS service points from 1 June, UKVI invited customers to book in a managed way, following date order. However, since 23 September, customers have been able to book appointments immediately after making their application, thus returning to the pre-COVID-19 process.

The number of appointments added into the system is not constant as it depends on a number of factors. As of 10am on 13 October, this morning there were 12,032 appointments offered for w/c 19 October 2020.