Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Wednesday, 1 April 2009.

Immigration: Iraqi Nationals

Question: My Lords, a great many business opportunities available to us in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq are being hindered by the necessity for people to go to Amman to get visas. Considering that the Germans have no difficulty in offering visa facilities through their consulate in Erbil, why cannot we do the same?

Answer: My Lords, I had hoped that I had answered that. There are still issues of safety and cost and so on and, sadly, the UK is generally slightly more at risk from AQ than the Germans are. AQ lists the US, the UK and Israel rather closely together, although the US and Israel are probably slightly ahead of us. That is a reality and a fact of life. We look at this in terms of the safety of our staff and the people there and the total cost. At the moment, it costs us about £600 to process each of the small number of visas that we issue in Erbil. Clearly we have to resolve that before we can extend the scheme. However, the noble Lord is right. We need to do that because Iraq is important and there is huge potential there. It would good for Iraq and good for this country.

Secondary information