Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to speed up the application process for refugee family reunion.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Customer service is a key priority for UK Visas and Immigration, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the visa application process is kept under regular review, including by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. Customers now apply and pay online in addition to being able to make appointments to submit their documents and biometrics at visa application centres in over 200 locations around the world.

The published service standard for resolving refugee family reunion applications is within 12 weeks, or 60 working days. Where an application is complex and likely to take longer than the advertised processing times, UKVI will contact the applicant to inform them of this. The average processing time for 2015 was 40 days.