Found: Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom, ‘Tourism & Visitor’ visas/tourism-visitor

Found: 600/frequent-traveller-stream#Overview 20 US Government https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 195882 on Visas: Tourism, how much his Department spent on contracts with Teleperformance Ltd for (a) visa processing and (b) contact centre services in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office does not categorise the information in a way that groups together Visa Processing spend with Teleperformance Ltd from 2021 to 2023, therefore we are unable to answer part of this question.

Contractual information in Contracts Finder is available for the second part of the question.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was for processing (a) an average tourist visa application and (b) all tourist visa applications in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The estimated cost of processing visit visa applications for the years 2021 – 2022, is published on gov.uk as part of the Home Office’s transparency publications Visa fees transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many tourist visa applications were made to UK Visas and Immigration in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

According to the Home Office published data on visit visa applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ and in the Entry clearance detailed dataset of the quarterly publication, for 2021 there were 613,741 visit visa applications and in 2022 there were 1,795,963 visit visa applications.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of delays in issuing tourist visas on the UK’s tourism industry.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Home Office publishes data on its performance against its service level agreement for Visitors, which can be found on the GOV.UK webpage: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) recognises the impact of delays to customers can be significant. UKVI resources are focussed on reducing the current processing times and will continue to prioritise urgent compelling or compassionate cases across all workstreams. UKVI encourages all customers to apply in good time ahead of intended travel dates.

The Department is also continuing to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up and simplify decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and decrease the number of people who are awaiting an interview or decision.

Additionally, UKVI has recently reintroduced a limited priority service in all markets where the service can be offered, which customers can also make use of.

In addition, our Electronic Visa Waiver scheme was expanded in June to include Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. This means most nationals of these countries wishing to visit the UK as a tourist can now do so without applying for a full UK visa

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing low cost visitor visas to support the recovery of the tourist economy following the covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Home Office recognises the importance of visitors to the UK economy and so has kept fees for Short-Term Visit Visas below the estimated cost of processing an application. Income from fees charged for immigration and nationality applications plays a vital role in our ability to run a sustainable Migration and Borders system.

The visa fee will normally represent a relatively small cost within the context of the overall decision to visit the UK, once costs of travel, accommodation and currency fluctuations are taken into account.

It is worth noting many coming from key markets for our tourism sector, including North America and Europe, are non-visa nationals so do not need to apply for a visa in advance of travelling here for a visit of up to 6 months, with EEA nationals and nationals of Australia, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the United States of America able to use our e-gates (Where available) on arrival in the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to mitigate visa requirements for UK residents seeking employment in UK companies operating in the UK to the EU tourism industry.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Our new relationship with the EU means that there are new rules in place for UK nationals travelling to the EU. For short-stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, UK nationals will not need a visa when travelling to and within the Schengen Area, where they are undertaking a limited range of activities such as attending meetings, tourism, cultural or sporting events. Under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, business travellers do not require a work permit to carry out certain short-term business travel activities, such as attending meetings and conferences, providing after sale-services, or translation and market research services, unless otherwise stated in the agreement. For those undertaking longer-term stays or providing a service under a contract, a visa and/or work permit may be required.

We have published guidance on GOV.UK for businesses to support our new trading relationship with the EU. This includes enhanced guidance on EU Member State’s immigration systems which provides UK business travellers with a better understanding of the visa and work permit routes available. We are continuing to engage regularly with our embassies to better understand the requirements in Member States, and to support UK nationals and businesses when they travel abroad.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect the requirement for visas to enter the UK from Europe has had on (1) tourism from Europe, and (2) the UK economy.

Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Citizens of countries in the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland do not require visas to visit the UK.

Visitors from those countries may use our ePassport gates, where available, to enter the UK.