To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to help ensure that the child dependants of UK residents who are in Gaza are able to apply for the UK visas to which they are entitled in the context of the closure of visa application centres.
Answered on
12 December 2023
The UK Government is monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza closely to ensure that it is able to respond appropriately.
British citizens and their foreign national dependants (spouse, unmarried/civil partner, child under 18), may come to the UK provided they have valid travel documents and existing permission to enter or remain in the UK; or are non-visa nationals.
Individuals including child dependents of UK residents who do not meet these criteria will have to make a visa application, and enrol their biometrics at a visa application centre(VAC) / biometric enrolment location in a nearby country. VACs in nearby countries are operating as normal but applicants should only travel if it is safe to do so.
Specific locations and operating hours can be found at the following website for UK Visa Application Centre | TLScontact (https://pos.tlscontact.com/default/palestine)