Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time is for processing biometric residence permits for people (a) applying with existing indefinite leave to remain and (b) making new claims in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Non-EEA nationals with indefinite leave to remain already have the facility to enrol for a biometric residence permit to show they have no time limit on their stay in the UK. Details on how to apply are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-to-transfer-indefinite-leave-to-remain-in-uk-form-ntl

We do not publish the specific data requested, but as per the In-Country migration statistics published in August 2018, 99.5% of settlement applications were decided within the six-month service standard. This figure includes applications made by those who already hold indefinite leave to remain and those who have never previously held a biometric residence permit. The data can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-country-migration-data-august-2018