Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 17662, if she will recompense postal applicants for a spousal visa whose application is not determined within eight weeks; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office does not intend to recompense all spousal visa applicants whose application was not determined within the 8 week postal service standard. The published service standard timeframes for spousal visa applications commences at the date of receipt, which is taken as the postal date marked on the application package and includes time taken for biometric enrolment.

Spousal visa applications may be decided outside of normal service standards for a range of reasons including requests for further information from the applicant or when an application is complex. An application will be deemed complex when it falls to be considered under Human Rights consideration beyond the original spousal route applied for. The applicant is normally advised when their application falls outside published service standards.