Indefinate Leave To Remain ! What A Con!

[BIG SPUDS]

Ok the the mrs came on a marriage visa, got married, got the limited leave to remain now its the settlement !!!!!!

Thought it would be easy !!!! WRONG!!!

Have to pass life in the uk multiple choice test on computer £35. (nearest one 15 miles away)

The Mrs can only read and write very little. The above it a impossiblity.

There fore has to obtain an ESOL certificate to level 3 citizenship with materials.

£80 for 10 lessons. A very minimium of 20 estimated to achieve level 3. Therefore expensive.

The nearest school that does this is 20 miles away. Mrs dont drive so id take her and wait in the car for 2 hours for the lesson to finish, then go home. Times 6 - 8pm wednesdays. I dont get home from work till 5.15.

Next one closest is 1 mile away but doesnt do the course with citizen ship, which would mean getting to level 3 then attempting the computer alone with revison from the hand book. Times for this class are 9.30 - 11.30 which means the mrs would have to lose a day off work every week (works part time ) Then pay for a babysiter for 3 hours a week.

The living in the UK test are stupidly hard, i guess you can read the handbook, but what the hel_l are them questions about and who cares??? Do people really need to know them?? I Dont!!

We can apply for an extension as the current visa is up october and there is no way she will get to this stage by then, for a £325 from the oh so friendly uk home office. But for how long and when she does get the certificate of completion i have to pay £325 again.

I work 10 hours a day my mrs 6 we have a 7 month old baby. Which we juggle jobs and times to babysit.

When do we get time to do this.

Tell me this is supposed to be easy!!!!

I need some help and advice anyone done this before???????

Very very angry and stressed!!!!1

[cuddleypete]

hi there big spuds i know how you feel my thia wifes 2 year settlement visa runs out in november so off course she will have too do the life in the uk test etc and come up with the £950 FEE AS WELL , (test is a load off bo---cks) If i did the test i would not pass, so i guess i would have to leave the uk,as i dont know the answers to the stuiped questions.

Any way i am now going to get a irsih passport so non off the above will have to be done and off course saving the £950 fee.

i know how you feel we feel the same as iam sure many other people do the same.

any way mate all the best pete and som

[BIG SPUDS]

It takes 3 - 5 years for us Uk citizens when we were at school to learn all words to read and write and to understand what they mean. Then Home office expect my wife to learn a new language, read and write to a high level and to pass a test in 4 months and raise a baby at the same time. And when it takes lots of time and £325 extensions. She works she pays taxes. This is WRONG. This cant be right.

Im writing to the papers MPS the home office somethings wrong here.

Very very very annoyed.

I cant get out alll the frustration and thins i want to say i have got to go and have a strong drink and deep breath.

[Mossfinn]

Hi Bigspuds,

I am very sorry to hear of your dilemma, the issue of the LITUK test is brought up many times here, generally with adverse comments.

Mr Bojangles has spoken vociferously against it and Scouse has made suggestion on going another route entirely and this includes going down the alternative Nationality route, I do not know whether this is an option for you, any part of your family tree have an alternative lineage from the UK? Irish perhaps or other, if so you could go the route of a flag of convenience and the costs are considerably less.

My wife has recently passed the LITUK test and passed it first time, but she speaks good English and is pretty competent in writing so it wasn't entirely a nightmare.

However, as I have said previously on other posts, I entirely agree that the banal questions put in the test and pointless text in the three or four chapters of the book that are relevant, some of the questions and the answers are questionable in the least and serve little purpose.

I still maintain that if you do the hard yards, learn the relevant chapters and continually test and help your wife thru the learning process, it does become easier, if still pointless in the extreme.

However, if your wife is not comfortable with the language this is additionally complicated made even more strangulated by long hours of work and your child which is obviously the most important thing at the moment.

The extortionate fees that are presently being proposed are not going to make things easier, so any chance of looking thru your family tree?

Good Luck

I really hope things work out.

Moss

Edited March 14, 2007 by Mossfinn

[BIG SPUDS]

Pure British mate !

Cant say im proud of it at the moment!

[Mossfinn]

Pure British mate !

Cant say im proud of it at the moment!

Well, Spuds it would appear to be the hard yards route then.

My post above appears to suggest that I agree with the banal questions, this is due to my inability to articulate my views and is in reality the opposite.

However, once you have seen thru the pointless questions and seen them as the imposter they are, it then becomes a little easier at exactly what you need to achieve, the requirement is to pass a certain percentage of the overall questions, remember it is a multiple choice, of four possible answers, questionaire.

So if you read and learn the relevant chapters together, perhaps make it fun, then repeat a page or two and move on, then go back and repeat again, it is all about drip feeding the memory and with luck when it comes to the test itself, you should be able to completely eliminate one, perhaps two and have an educated guess at another.

Then there will be the questions that you know, so you move on leaving the hard questions till later, with a little more time to gather your thoughts, there will always be a time when you wildly guess right.

You have little option, no right of an alternative flag it would appear, so treat it as a positive and engage the system because you can't circumvent this time, only defeat it.

It's character building, but if you hold off, the costs will just go up and you will be stung all ways.

It is my opinion that the test isn't as hard as it first looks.

Just my thoughts

Good Luck

Moss

[backflip]

It's hypocritical to complain that Thais in Thailand can't read and speak English well...and then complain when a Thai "wife" or "girlfriend" is refused entry to an English-speaking country because she can't communicate well in English.

[JacknDanny]

It's hypocritical to complain that Thais in Thailand can't read and speak English well...and then complain when a Thai "wife" or "girlfriend" is refused entry to an English-speaking country because she can't communicate well in English.

I dont think anybody is complaining about Thais being unable to speak/read English.

I think the point was the unneccassary red tape and bureaucracy dealing with the British Govt.

Reading these stories of obstacles placed in the way of genuine cases of being patriated in the UK, amazes me how the UK is overrun by immigrants

[taxexile]

test questions

test your knowledge about the uk here by taking the immigration exam.

shouldnt be that difficult for someone who has lived in the uk for a couple of years before applying for ilr , to have mastered enough of the language and enough general knowledge to get through this test.

if they apply themselves a little.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

At least Thai wives in the UK can get a British passport if they jump through the right hoops.

Unlike UK spouses living in Thailand.

"Give away sacred Thai citizenship to hairy white bignoses who smell of cheese? Certainly not."

I'm in 'glass is half full' mode.

[JacknDanny]

At least Thai wives in the UK can get a British passport if they jump through the right hoops.

Unlike UK spouses living in Thailand.

"Give away sacred Thai citizenship to hairy white bignoses who smell of cheese? Certainly not."

I'm in 'glass is half full' mode.

Fair Point

[cdnvic]

test questions

test your knowledge about the uk here by taking the immigration exam.

shouldnt be that difficult for someone who has lived in the uk for a couple of years before applying for ilr , to have mastered enough of the language and enough general knowledge to get through this test.

if they apply themselves a little.

I have spent 2 months in the past couple decades in the UK and I got 17/20.

Someone who expects to live there should have learnt to comprehend the language enough by now. This isn't only for the benefit of others. If something happened to the spouse supporting them, how could they expect to deal with everyday life without these basic skills?

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Wow, reading this makes me very relieved we got ILR 4 years ago.

All you did was fill in a short form, send a cheque for £100 and the passport.

That was it.

[Old Croc]

I got 16/20 in the quiz.

The spooky thing was, as I was doing the quiz, with the television on in the room, there was a news story about the new written citizenship test in Australia being too hard!!

I think it was based on the British system.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

I got the first 18 right and the last 2 wrong. So presumably I can't ever go home.

There's no way my wife would be able to pass that test. Its more Constitutional Law than general knowledge. I think most English people would score about 50%.

Agree: this test should be no qualification for obtaining citizenship. Its foolish and pointless

[Prakanong]

Well I failed that test.

Hmm I have a degree in politics and economic history as well as post-graduate degree in IT ;-)

Says a lot about me.

[billd766]

I have spent probably about 1 year in the Uk out of the last 20 and I got 17/20 and I guessed a couple of them.

One question I guessed was about the coal or steel producers in Europe and I got that right as well as guessing the current number of EU members.

Fortunately for me my wife has no desire at all to live in the UK (neither do I) and my son ahs a UK passport anyway.

I wonder how many of us would pass a questionaire in Thai?

I know I wouldn't yet.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

Actually. My wife just happens to be an expert on European coal mines and steel mills.

Oh, no hang on, sorry she's not. I meant she's an expert in Louis Vuitton bags and jewellery.

[taxexile]

it always amazed me , as a health care worker in the nhs , often working with immigrants and asylum seekers , how little english some people had , even after 2 or 3 years in the uk ..... unless talking about the benefit system and the entitlements to free health care etc ,then they seemed to have encyclopaedic knowledge of the complicated and convoluted system and their english and form filling skills improved by 1000% .

[taxexile]

I wonder how many of us would pass a questionaire in Thai?

but to get residence here you would need to.

[chonabot]

Wow, reading this makes me very relieved we got ILR 4 years ago.

All you did was fill in a short form, send a cheque for £100 and the passport.

That was it.

Ditto !

Good Luck Big Spuds mate !

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

Its times like this when you wish UK was a third world corruption-riddled kleptocracy.

"Hello Mr Immigration man, I haven't got the right stamp in my passport, but there's a fifty quid note in there"

"Welcome to England Maam"

[sonicdragon]

It is obviously a case of trying to lock the door after the horse has bolted, along with making a nice little earner for the government and private sector tutors.

I think most people would agree that *some* level of familiarity with UK life, and *some* level of competency with the language is warranted in order to get ILR, but that level should be a lot lower what is required to pass this test.

If only some kind of test had been introduced 30 years ago we would not now be in the paradoxical situation of having millions of settled immigrants who speak hardly any english, while preventing bona fide spouses of british nationals who's english abilities are significantly better, from settling.

[gummy]

It is obviously a case of trying to lock the door after the horse has bolted, along with making a nice little earner for the government and private sector tutors.

I think most people would agree that *some* level of familiarity with UK life, and *some* level of competency with the language is warranted in order to get ILR, but that level should be a lot lower what is required to pass this test.

If only some kind of test had been introduced 30 years ago we would not now be in the paradoxical situation of having millions of settled immigrants who speak hardly any english, while preventing bona fide spouses of british nationals who's english abilities are significantly better, from settling.

Should have been more than 50 years ago 'cos that is when it all started to go pear shaped.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

Useful English skills should be predicated on the following question-types - not coal and steel.

a) The weather ('miserable day innit')

Posh and Becks

c) Isn't that Prince William nice?

d) How its England's turn to win the next World Cup.

e) 'Our house price has gone up 20% in the last year'.

etc etc etc

[taxexile]

and *some* level of competency with the language is warranted in order to get ILR, but that level should be a lot lower what is required to pass this test.

you've just got to laugh.

[sonicdragon]

It is obviously a case of trying to lock the door after the horse has bolted, along with making a nice little earner for the government and private sector tutors.

I think most people would agree that *some* level of familiarity with UK life, and *some* level of competency with the language is warranted in order to get ILR, but that level should be a lot lower what is required to pass this test.

If only some kind of test had been introduced 30 years ago we would not now be in the paradoxical situation of having millions of settled immigrants who speak hardly any english, while preventing bona fide spouses of british nationals who's english abilities are significantly better, from settling.

Should have been more than 50 years ago 'cos that is when it all started to go pear shaped.

Of course you are right, but governments are not good at looking 50 years ahead - even 5 years is a stuggle for most. Back in the 50s' there was an unprecedented economic expansion, and a huge labour shortage was endangering it. No way would any government hack be worried about racial integration, and as for foreign spouses of british nationals ? ? ? Not even on the radar screen ! ! Solution = mass immigration from the former colonies to do the work that most Brits didn't want. If I'm not mistaken I think, in the 50s', almost any commonwealth citizen had the right to emigrate. It was in the late 60's when it really started to dawn on the politicians that maybe the door was open too wide.

[gummy]

It is obviously a case of trying to lock the door after the horse has bolted, along with making a nice little earner for the government and private sector tutors.

I think most people would agree that *some* level of familiarity with UK life, and *some* level of competency with the language is warranted in order to get ILR, but that level should be a lot lower what is required to pass this test.

If only some kind of test had been introduced 30 years ago we would not now be in the paradoxical situation of having millions of settled immigrants who speak hardly any english, while preventing bona fide spouses of british nationals who's english abilities are significantly better, from settling.

Should have been more than 50 years ago 'cos that is when it all started to go pear shaped.

Of course you are right, but governments are not good at looking 50 years ahead - even 5 years is a stuggle for most. Back in the 50s' there was an unprecedented economic expansion, and a huge labour shortage was endangering it. No way would any government hack be worried about racial integration, and as for foreign spouses of british nationals ? ? ? Not even on the radar screen ! ! Solution = mass immigration from the former colonies to do the work that most Brits didn't want. If I'm not mistaken I think, in the 50s', almost any commonwealth citizen had the right to emigrate. It was in the late 60's when it really started to dawn on the politicians that maybe the door was open too wide.

Perhaps you are right as I seem to recall it was not untill the 60's that British Passports were changed from "Right of Abode in the United Kingdom". However the labour shortage was only in certain areas, Basically 2. One was that after WW11 we had no bus drivers so hence, as there was an abundance in the West Indies owing to their highly developed transportation system, they quickly came to the UK to help us out. The other shortage during the 60's of course was in social workers. As during the previous 20 odd years most of the nation had either been directly or indirectly involved in opposition to A. Hitler there had been inadequate training and education so as to develop and advance the social services area. As a consequence we had to allow the immigration of many highly trained persons from other countries that did possess these skills, such as Uganda, SW Africa etc. where as we all know they have special skill sets in social welfare and community wellbeing.

Then of course the Rt Hon Enoch Powell was derided for being a visionary.

Edited March 15, 2007 by gummy

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

What have Ugandan bus drivers and Adolph Hitler got to do with Spud's wife?

[sonicdragon]

Perhaps you are right as I seem to recall it was not untill the 60's that British Passports were changed from "Right of Abode in the United Kingdom". However the labour shortage was only in certain areas, Basically 2. One was that after WW11 we had no bus drivers so hence, as there was an abundance in the West Indies owing to their highly developed transportation system, they quickly came to the UK to help us out. The other shortage during the 60's of course was in social workers. As during the previous 20 odd years most of the nation had either been directly or indirectly involved in opposition to A. Hitler there had been inadequate training and education so as to develop and advance the social services area. As a consequence we had to allow the immigration of many highly trained persons from other countries that did possess these skills, such as Uganda, SW Africa etc. where as we all know they have special skill sets in social welfare and community wellbeing.

If I'm not mistaken, the labour shortage in the post-war period was much wider than you say. For example, the textile industry in the north was a huge employer of immigrants from the indian subcontinent. Anyway, that is getting away from my point, which was this: the first wave of immigration in the 50's was to satisfy a labour shortage. It continued more of less unchecked, with a quota system in the 60s. Only in the late 60's and 70's was there a realisation that a problem was brewing (or had brewed). That was the time when a simple testing system could have been introduced for permanent residence. I wouldn't expect to get permanent residence in a foreign country (such as thailand for example) without being able to communicate in thai, and I have no problem with my thai wife having to demonstrate some abilities in english in order to live in the UK - but the chance of her passing the life-in-uk test is very low. We are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.