Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken recent steps to help tackle the backlog of spousal visa applications.

The Home Office had been prioritising Ukraine Visa Schemes applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As such earlier this year the service standard for family entry clearance applications was changed from 60-days to 120-days as a direct result.

The bulk of resource has now returned to the route, along with a recent additional investment of new staff.