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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many visa applications to British consulates in (a) Slovakia, (b) Turkey and (c) Croatia were (i) received and (ii) processed in each year since 1990. [159742] Mr. Mullin: The following table shows figures for the number of entry clearance applications received and resolved in Slovakia, Turkey and Croatia since 1997. Figures for the years before 1997 are not readily available. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Slovakia Turkey Croatia Received Resolved Received Resolved Received Resolved 1997 401 369 65,056 60,528 841 851 1998 6,082 5,548 67,868 64,865 342 336 1999 22,838 19,700 63,565 46,596 2,435 2,354 2000 22,270 21,436 68,638 64,516 13,490 13,489 2001-02 20,051 18,226 54,086 50,524 13,988 13,892 2002-03 22,419 21,742 63,493 62,326 15,304 15,317 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Since 2001, statistics have been collated by financial year (1 April to 31 March) rather than calendar year. The numbers of applications received and resolved do not always tally. Applications that are recorded as being received in one accounting period may be carried forward for resolution in the next. It is therefore possible to resolve more applications during a period than were received for the same period. Figures show that fewer applications tend to be resolved than received. The method of recording the statistics accounts for this: a mother and three children on one passport may count as four applications received, but only one entry clearance resolved. Also, some applications will be counted as received that are subsequently withdrawn and therefore not counted as resolved. Visa regimes were imposed on Slovakia on 8 October 1998, on Turkey on 23 June 1989 and on Croatia on 19 November 1999. The visa regime on Slovakia was lifted on 18 December 2003.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

159742; 418 c1705-6W;418 c1707-8W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Applications Visas Slovakia Croatia Turkey Eastern Europe

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk