Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the efficiency of the work visa system in enabling UK businesses to have speedy access to the language skills they need for new markets.

James Brokenshire

Our visa system is set up to welcome skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors. In the year ending June 2015, the number of work visas we issued increased by six percent, with skilled work visas up nine percent.

UKVI continually assesses the efficiency of its customer offer. The average combined processing time for Tier 1 & Tier 2 category visas globally was 7 days in the year ending June 2015. In the same period, 97% of visas were issued within the standard 15 working days processing time.

UKVI operates a number of services that make the visa process more accessible for businesses. These include priority and super-priority visa services, prime time opening hours and a business network with dedicated UK visa staff to assist businesses with their visa requirements.