Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) her Department's target is for processing and (b) the average processing time was in the latest period for which data is available for a family visa for the spouse of a British citizen.

An applicant applying for a family visa at entry clearance should get a decision within 24 weeks.

Visa decision waiting times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

An applicant applying in the UK to extend a family visa (spouse or partner on a 5-year route to settlement) should get a decision within 8 weeks.

Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

An applicant applying in the UK for settlement should get a decision within 6 months.

Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Average processing times do not form part of any current transparency data for spouse/partner applications and are not published.

The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).