Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many family visas were granted (a) in each year since 2011 and (b) in the current year up to the latest available quarter for which figures are available; and what the (i) category of family visa and (ii) UK nation of residence of the sponsor of each such visa was.
The available information requested is given in the table below:
Family entry clearance visas issued, by category. | ||||
Visa Category | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | Q1 2014 (Jan-Mar) |
Family: Partner | 33,496 | 30,411 | 23,557 | 6,825 |
Family: Child | 97 | 85 | 73 | 16 |
Family: Other | 4,306 | 3,710 | 4,233 | 1,591 |
Family: Partner (for immediate settlement) | 1,336 | 1,097 | 1,084 | 176 |
Family: Child (for immediate settlement) | 4,596 | 4,001 | 3,844 | 726 |
Family: Other (for immediate settlement) | 1,892 | 1,588 | 899 | 296 |
Total | 45,723 | 40,892 | 33,690 | 9,630 |
Source: Immigration Statistics, January-March 2014, Before Entry Volume 2, table be_01_q |
The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on entry clearance visa grants
by category in table be_01_q (Before Entry tables volume 2) within the
‘Immigration Statistics' release. The numbers are broken down by nationality in
table be_06_q_f (Before Entry tables volume 4). It is not possible to
separately identify those granted visas under the old family rules and those
granted visas under new family rules implemented on 9 July 2012.
A copy of the latest release, ‘Immigration Statistics January - March 2014' is
available from the Library of the House and from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-stati
stics-quarterly-release.
The figures provided relate to family members issued visas in the family
immigration route. Statistics on the dependants of migrants issued visas in
other routes, such as the Points Based System, can be found within the
published data at the above link.
The information requested in part (ii) on the UK nation of residence of the
sponsor of each of the family visas of interest is not readily available and
could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Furthermore, not all sponsors
are based in the UK and not all individuals granted a visa in the family route
have a sponsor.