Appointments through your online system

Dear BN

Appointments through your online system (23033)
Thank you for your recent e-mail concerning the above matter. Your
request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and we will respond shortly.

Kind Regards

UKBA
Freedom of Information Team

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Dear BN,

Thank you for your below enquiry.

i) Number of appointments available on a normal working day under
each category in each of the offices?

Appointment availability varies due to seasonal trends and resource
management factors. The Agency experiences particularly high demand at
this time of year and appointments are often reserved immediately.
Appointment capacity is based on expected application volumes and the
Agency continually reviews and adjusts according to demand and to
optimise resources.

Appointments for January 2010 are now available.

ii) What time of the day are new appointments made available on the
system?

New appointments are released on a daily basis to both the online
booking system and our call centres. At least one day's worth of
appointments at all branches is added to the online system every day.

iii) Why is the earliest available appointment not shown at all even
if it is 9 weeks in the future)? If you feel people will block
appointments, you can probably start charging to book an appointment.

The UK Border Agency offers customers the maximum number of appointments
based optimum resource management in each of our branches & our systems
capability. We are not currently legally able to charge customers for
appointments before they attend, but are continuously looking at ways to
improve the availability and quantity of appointments for our customers.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of information team

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