asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why processing of Sri Lankan and Maldive applicants for United Kingdom visas has been transferred from Colombo to Chennai in India.

My Lords, the transfer of visa processing in this case is part of a larger project to reduce the number of processing centres around the world while maintaining an extensive network of visa application centres. This is being done in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness.

My Lords, is the Minister aware that for 60 years, Sri Lankans and Maldivians have been very satisfied with the processing in Colombo, whereas now there is a catalogue of errors, complaints, confusion and allegations of incompetence? Furthermore, is it not strange that there is a complete lack of sensitivity on behalf of the Foreign Office in locating this in Chennai, which is the one part of India where the Tamil Tigers have considerable influence and, as the noble Lord will know, where Prime Minister Gandhi was blown up by the Tigers. Secondly, is it not strange that, even at this stage, it is not possible for processing to return to a sovereign nation of 18 million people—one of the handful who supported us at the time of the Falklands crisis.

My Lords, with this new change, people applying for visas do not have to travel to Chennai; they still go to Colombo with their passports and documents and have a face-to-face meeting there. All of the detail is then passed to Chennai. That is done because we get an improved quality and consistency of decision-making about visas. We know that because we have assessed it with external sources. For example, we know that Sri Lankan nationals holding visas have been subsequently detained for less time when trying to get into the UK. The number detected as having incorrect visas has dropped as well. Not only that, by adopting this hub and spoke method around the world, we have saved in the region of £7 million this year. As I said, we have actually improved quality and consistency. It is more productive and cost-effective and people do not have to travel to Chennai.

My Lords, when the processing of visa applications was transferred to a private firm, Visa Facilitation Services, did it not cause immense disruption to the people in the residential neighbourhood of Palm Grove, where the activities were being conducted? No toilet facilities, parking or shelter were provided for the applicants, who had to depend on the hospitality of the people in the neighbourhood. Was that an improvement to the service?

My Lords, I am confused by that point. People still go to the same visa centre in Colombo as they did in the past. There has been no change whatever. I have not visited myself. I have not been to Sri Lanka for a number of years. But if it is bad, it was like that before and it is not something that has changed because of the hub and spoke method.

My Lords, under which of the new tiers can applications for a new visa be made by people from Sri Lanka and the Maldives? How do they know and how are they made aware that they will need a licence sponsor?

My Lords, the tiers that apply will be the same as those applying for other regions of the world. Clearly, it will be tier 2 for people with particular advanced skills down to tier 5, as we discussed yesterday in the House, for people coming for religious reasons. There will be the same tiers as everywhere. They can get that from the UK Visa Centre where they can discuss these issues when they apply for a visa to come here.

My Lords, when we had a Question on a similar line about the Pacific islanders some two years ago we were told that they would all have to go to Fiji even though distances between the islands made that difficult. Does the hub and spoke system apply in those islands or do they still all have to go to Fiji?

My Lords, I feel as though I am taking a test. All I know is that 150 issuing posts existed at the beginning of last year. That figure has been reduced to 95 and will go down to 65. The actual visa centres will still be where they were. People will go there with their passports. I am not sure about the exact detail of what happens in the Pacific islands, but I will get back to the noble Baroness in writing on that.

My Lords, I am sorry to set the Minister another test, but my understanding is that Syrians who require a visa to come to this country have to go to Jordan or Lebanon in order to collect them. That may not apply to some categories, but when I visited Syria about three months ago I found very considerable unhappiness about those arrangements.

My Lords, the noble Lord is, as usual, absolutely right. However, those arrangements apply only in certain cases, and a lot of it is to do with security reasons that I would prefer not to go into right now. But he is absolutely right that in some cases, not the bulk of cases, they have to do that.

My Lords, is the Minister not aware that we have sold the high commission in Colombo and that of course it has moved? Is that not part of the problem—no one really knows what is happening on the ground?

My Lords, the visa centre is two kilometres away from the high commission and is still in the same position and the high commission has moved across the road. So I think that I am being tried a little hard on this one.