Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the lack of an appeals process for Visitor Visa's on tourism numbers coming to the UK.

The department has not conducted an assessment of tourism numbers and appeals. When appeals for family visitors were abolished in 2013, the assessment was that the quicker and more cost-effective remedy for those refused was a fresh application, with judicial review available where necessary. These options are open to tourists, who therefore have no reason to be deterred by the lack of an appeal. In 2023, the number of visitor visas issued was up by 40% on 2022.

In 2014, the immigration appeals system was reserved for cases raising issues of fundamental rights, and in those rare cases where a visit engages human rights an appeal is still available.