argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): It is worth outlining where we see the future of our immigration system. As I touched on in my statement, EEA nationals already make fully online applications, for things such as student and skilled worker visas. When we rolled out the British nationals overseas route last year, we included a fully digital application system, which the vast majority of applicants have used. Our future work is to move away from people having to go to a VAC every time they want to apply for particular types of visas, including visit, student and skilled worker visas, and for a range of products that people apply for. For example, we will be moving to more of a system where we re-use biometrics or are able to extract biometrics via passports. Our future vision for the UK immigration system looks towards a time when a lot fewer people will be going to a VAC than are doing so today, and that technology will be used. We have seen that move in the Ukraine schemes. For example, about 90% of those who have now been granted visas under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have done this via the biometric bypass: they have not had to attend a VAC. We are also looking to roll out next month the system that will allow those who have come to this country with six months on a permission to travel letter to then be able to apply for the full visa from home, as would those looking to travel after that. So we are looking to reduce significantly the number of people who need to use a VAC That said, for those who do not have valid international passports the VACs perform a role of carrying out safeguarding checks, particularly in relation to children. For those of a younger age, we are not looking at the same security checks as we would do for an adult. For children, we are ensuring that key safeguarding checks are done. As we have said, our feedback at the moment is that there is wide availability of appointments, and that a large number of visas have been issued and people have arrived in the UK, having been through that process, in relatively significant numbers. We continue to work with our provider to improve the service on offer, but, as I say, our long-term vision is moving strongly away from VACs and things such as the issuing of vignettes, and instead looking towards e-visa permissions, which will mean that people do not need to go to collect something physical in their passport to allow them to travel to the UK. That is where the vision is going, but the changes we have made to the two systems, allowing the biometric bypass, means that the vast majority of people now making applications need to go nowhere near a VAC.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
David Mervyn Johnston (Conservative, Centre-right): A member of my staff spends a significant proportion of each day working on visas for Ukrainians, and I thank her and the hub team here, who have been supporting us all with this. Does my hon. Friend realise that one common problem is that the visa is approved but the person in question does not get the email giving them permission to travel for quite some time afterwards? Is he aware of that? Is he working on it? Will he set out what is being done about it?
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): We have been aware of an issue with the system in terms of the current process of the decision being made and then the visa dispatched. We have a particular team working on ensuring dispatch. The changes we will make in respect of the fully online system next month will mean that a lot of it becomes automated, which will resolve that particular issue. We have been aware of some instances and have a specific team that makes sure that decisions are dispatched I very much appreciate my hon. Friend’s comments about the hub, which has been assisting Members and ensuring that people’s visas get dispatched. As I say, we have now seen nearly 90,000 visas issued and significant numbers of people arriving here in the UK having used the biometric bypass route or been to a visa application centre. That indicates to us that the system is now working effectively.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am aware of the claims—false claims, I have to say—that there is a deliberate move to withhold individual visas. Those claims are absolute nonsense. [Interruption.] I hear chuntering, but it is certainly not the case. When some people apply through the fully digital system and some via a VAC, some of them may get a decision shortly after others in their party, but that is not a deliberate design or policy The hon. Gentleman referred to some of the numbers. Nearly 90,000 visas have now been issued and we expect to see many more people arriving in our country shortly. That shows the breadth of people’s generosity. This is one of the biggest resettlement schemes into communities throughout our country in many years. That shows people’s generosity when faced with the situation in Ukraine We are aware of some issues. As we have already heard, most people have been quite grateful for the hub, which will continue to operate during recess, given the support it provides to Members of Parliament. We are aware of the queues this week and action has been taken to resolve the issue Overall, we can see how the scheme is running and the generosity of the British people coming forward. That is what should be reflected when we talk about the scheme.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Martin John Vickers (Conservative, Centre-right): I have a constituent who is seeking to take in a Ukrainian family. They made their way to a visa application centre six weeks ago, but they have still not received the okay to make their way to the UK. They are being told that that is because there is a pause for those with Russian passports. Can the Minister confirm whether that is the case?
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Mixed Topics
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): Third-country nationals who are part of an overall Ukrainian family or household can be covered. My hon. Friend will appreciate that there are some different considerations in relation to Russian or Belarusian passport holders. We are conscious that in Ukraine there will be a number of people who, I think it safe to say, are no fans of Vladimir Putin, given what he is doing to them, their families and their neighbours. Certainly, they qualify, but there are some slightly different considerations if we are dealing with someone who holds a Russian passport.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will not be surprised to hear that the Government take a different view. It is for each country to decide its policy based on the intelligence and the assessments it receives, and that is partly driven by its geographical situation and, in Europe, whether it is part of the Schengen border-free zone Our position is based on the advice we have received. We have changed some of the systems of application based on that advice, and all our policies, particularly around visa national or non-visa national status for particular nationalities, are driven by a comprehensive assessment that includes security and other matters. I hope colleagues will appreciate why I will not outline the exact details on the Floor of the House, in a public forum. As I have touched on, nearly 90,000 visas have already been issued. We are certainly seeing more progress every day, and we look forward to welcoming a large number of people to the UK.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): Families in my constituency have very generously offered to house Ukrainian refugees. I was going to raise the plight of the Lykholit family from Ukraine, who applied on 18 March, but they have received their visas today after an extended wait—that is good news. However, there is the plight of those who are still in hotels waiting for their visas, particularly the relatives of people who assisted Holocaust survivors in escaping the Nazis. Will my hon. Friend prioritise those people? We owe them a big debt of gratitude for the risks that they undertook.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very happy to look at individual cases or instances that my hon. Friend wishes to supply. I am sure that, like me, he found that one of the most tragic moments of the current war was when a Holocaust survivor was killed by Russian shelling. Having survived so much horror in the earlier parts of his life, he lost it in the latest horror to be inflicted by a tyrant looking to dominate his neighbours Certainly, there has been a big step up in the number of visas being issued each day. As I say, nearly 90,000 have now been issued, and we are very much looking forward to welcoming those we are granting visas to. I am pleased to hear that the case that my hon. Friend had planned to raise has now been resolved.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): The simple answer is no. They will usually be done in date order, unless there are particular compelling and compassionate circumstances. Given the nature of the situation that people have left in Ukraine and eastern Poland, in many ways virtually all applications have compelling and compassionate circumstances. We do not order applications based on how close a relative they are. As the hon. Gentleman will know, the list of relatives we will accept is quite extensive. In addition, if someone was for example a godparent, that would not qualify under the family scheme, but we would look to see whether it could be transferred into the Homes for Ukraine scheme and whether the person concerned could act as a sponsor for the individual instead.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Undoubtedly, due to the fog of war, there were long delays, and still are in some instances. However, I ask my hon. Friend the Minister to thank the people in the Home Office who have been working very hard of late. The Lichfield constituents are very generous and want to house Ukrainians. I and my staff have been dealing with numerous cases, most of which are now resolved. I thank the people of Lichfield and I thank particularly Home Office officials, who have been working almost a 24-hour day to resolve this.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his comments; I know the team who have been working on these schemes will very much appreciate what he has just said. As we have touched on several times, nearly 90,000 visas have now been issued and we are seeing significant numbers of people arriving in the UK. That is a tribute not only to the generosity of spirit of people such as those in Lichfield who are looking to host families and provide what support they can, but to those teams that have worked to stand up the scheme. It is worth noting that the British national overseas passports scheme was over about one year and dealt with 100,000 people. This has been 90,000 within a matter of weeks.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): Certainly, if a visa has been approved, it would be interesting to know what further checks there are. There are local authority checks relating to sponsors and accommodation, but that does not affect the ability to travel. I am happy to look at the example if the hon. Gentleman will supply it to me. The Republic of Ireland has taken a view based on its own position and in the light of its own situation. The commentary coming out of Moscow about the United Kingdom is very different from that about a number of other countries. The Republic of Ireland has made its choice and we have engaged with it closely on what it has decided to do, but we have made an assessment based on our own advice and needs. I understand, of course, that the Labour party has already said it supports having a visa and has not, unlike the SNP, called for the visas to be abandoned.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): It is concerning to hear of any attempt to take advantage of a vulnerable person. If the evidence has not already been supplied to us and to the Polish authorities, we would certainly be grateful for it so that we can track down those involved in offering counterfeit documents. I would make it very clear that counterfeit documents do not work for travel On the 10-year-old concerned, again, if there is a particular case still outstanding, I am happy to look at it. We are rapidly getting through the remaining outstanding cases. I said when I appeared at the Dispatch Box a few weeks back that we would see a rapid increase in the rate of visa grants. As colleagues will have seen from the published statistics, we have seen a very significant increase in the rate of grants over the last couple of weeks, and that is continuing. We are looking to move to a frictionless level of claims going through the process without any delay in the very near future, and the teams are certainly working very hard to achieve that.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I have already outlined why we have the visa requirement, although in the case of children, that is more focused on safeguarding the children. There is a real issue, particularly if unaccompanied minors leave Poland and the other border countries. Again in relation to unaccompanied minors, as I have stated at the Dispatch Box on previous occasions, the Ukrainian Government have a strong policy position on unaccompanied children who are travelling being placed into the care of foreigners without their consent. The visa process is about that, but even then, for actual travel to the United Kingdom people do need documents to be able to board planes. In some cases, if they do not have a passport or any other document, it is the FAV with the vignette on it that actually gives them the ability to board a plane.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Member for her question. Certainly, we would point people towards some of the more recognised charities that are offering matching services, rather than just going on to social media. It was particularly concerning—this has now been rectified following, I believe, an intervention—that at one point a popular search engine put a dating site near the top when people were searching for matching with a refugee. That was clearly an utterly inappropriate site to have as one of the things being suggested On the ongoing safeguarding checks, I hope the hon. Member appreciates why I will not go into the exact details of the databases and information we look at for the visa application. However, once people have arrived, councils in England are doing Disclosure and Barring Service checks, with enhanced checks if a child will be staying with the sponsor—I understand that councils in Scotland are doing similar checks—and then there is a requirement for ongoing checks. The £10,500 funding per person is partly there to help support the required ongoing safeguarding work, particularly where there are children or vulnerable women. One of the benefits of our system is that we know where people are, we know who they are staying with and—we have already done this under our system and it would not happen if we did not have a visa process—we have been able to block people from being placed with those who have committed quite serious offences.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman rightly says, the Polish Government and Polish people are doing amazing work in supporting those who have crossed the border from Ukraine. We have provided £30 million to Poland to help with providing temporary shelter, education and other basic services. We have also provided things like blankets and hydro kits to Moldova, which, as he will know, is similarly seeing significant pressures in terms of those who have crossed the border. As part of a wider package, we have had on the ground UK teams from the Home Office who have been supporting people at our visa application centres. A range of support is being given. I recently met the Visegrád Group ambassadors to talk about what they were seeing in terms of giving support and what lessons had been learned about how we can provide more. That support will need to continue. Of course we all hope that in the near future Putin’s forces will be defeated and that the next thing we can do is to support people to return home.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): In terms of the future of visa application centres and the report published three years ago, the hon. Member is welcome to read some of the documentation we have put out about the changes as part of the future border and immigration system to significantly reduce the number of people who have to use a visa application centre, with many more either using biometrics or being able to make their applications fully online rather than having to go to a centre. We have already significantly speeded up the granting of visas under the two schemes relating to Ukraine, with just under 90,000 having been issued and more being issued every day. In the long term, our vision is to move away from visa application centres being the main place where people make their application, as already shown by what has happened with the biometric bypass route—the vast majority of applications are now being made via that rather than at an application centre.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): We have already done step-by-step guidance for the form in both Ukrainian and Russian, which makes it much simpler to follow. One of the issues with translating the form into other languages is that it means we would need to have decision makers who can speak the particular language. We are clear that sponsors and others can assist with filling in the form to make for a better experience for those needing to apply. As already shown, we have now granted nearly 90,000 visas, which speaks for itself and the performance that is being achieved.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I am very happy to look at them. If incorrect or confusing advice is being given by a visa application centre, we certainly want the details of that so that we can intervene and engage to ensure the centre is fully conversant with what it should be doing and how the process should work. For example, we have made clear with carriers that if people have a form for affixing the vignette, they do not also need permission to travel letters. That was one issue we encountered. We made clear that the form is their permission to travel once they have it. I am very happy to look at individual cases if forwarded to me.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): The checks are being done for safeguarding reasons as well, as I have already touched on during this urgent question. We have already blocked some instances where a potential sponsor had serious criminal convictions, which would mean that it would be wholly unsuitable for a vulnerable person to stay with them. We are conscious that we want to take advantage of the great generosity that many people have shown, which is why we have now granted nearly 90,000 visas. We are granting thousands more every day, and we look forward to seeing more people being able to come and take up the offers of sanctuary that people are making.
Homes for Ukraine: Visa Application Centres — House of Commons, 2022-04-28
Topic: Immigration
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, people who come under the permission to travel system print out the email and show it alongside their passport. In terms of travelling to the UK, for the cohort that does still need to go to a visa application centre and get a vignette, that is the document and ID that will enable them to get on a plane. Far from being an outlier, I point to other similar nations with similar systems, such as Canada, the USA and Australia, which have gone down a similar path in terms of looking to have a visa system—a humanitarian visa system—as we have.
NATO Effectiveness — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of NATO in safeguarding the freedom and security of its members by political and military means.
James Stephen Heappey (Conservative, Centre-right): In the context of a question about NATO, the hon. Gentleman is wrong. NATO massively outnumbers Russia as an adversary. The UK commits more than our minimum requirement to NATO. Moreover, allies around NATO are clear that contributing in the traditional domains of land, sea and air is no longer sufficient and that NATO needs capabilities in space and cyber-space, on which, through the integrated review, the UK has invested and is to the fore.
LGBT Armed Forces Personnel: Courts Martial — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: How many LGBT armed forces personnel were court-martialled on account of their sexuality in the most recent period for which data is available prior to 2001.
Leo Docherty (Conservative, Centre-right): We acknowledge wholeheartedly the fact that historically some service personnel were thrown out of the service purely because of their sexuality, which was deeply unjust. For that reason, we have commissioned an independent review. That will assess some of the figures involved, which is indeed a grey area, and we look forward to announcing that in due course.
LGBT Armed Forces Personnel: Courts Martial — House of Commons, 2022-06-13
Topic: Civil Rights
Questions: How many LGBT armed forces personnel were court-martialled on account of their sexuality in the most recent period for which data is available prior to 2001.
James Whiteside Gray (Conservative, Centre-right): At a recent meeting with the organisation Fighting With Pride, I was horrified to hear that until 2001, LGBT servicemen and women were routinely court-martialled and dismissed; they lost their pensions and the right to wear their medals or their berets on Remembrance Sunday. That was an outrage, as the Minister correctly said. A far bigger outrage, however, is that that injustice has not been corrected. To this day, gay people—gay servicemen—from that time still have no pension and are treated with contempt by the armed service, which is absolutely disgraceful. I welcome the fact that he has set up an inquiry into that, although he has not yet appointed a chairman, but we need far more than an inquiry: we need those people to be pardoned and for them to get their dignity and humanity back.