Esol Course Fees

[Rj 81]

Hi Guys

Does anybody know if my wife will qualify for FREE enrolement onto a ESOL with Citizenship course?

When we went last year they said we would have to pay around the sum of £850. So we decided to give it a miss. I think they said after my wife has been in the UK for 1 year, she may not have to pay. So now she has been in the UK nearly 1 year.

Before I email them I just want know for sure either way.

Cheers guys

Edited May 8, 2007 by Rj 81

[the scouser]

RJ81,

I think even some of the colleges are not sure on this one. When my wife first came to the UK she attended a college for which we had to pay, yet a second school, governed by the same local education authority, claimed that as she is married to a British citizen she didn't have to pay anything. Needless to say, we got a refund from the first place, and she started attending lessons at the second.

I think, perhaps, drop an e-mail to the school asking whether a foreign national married to a British citizen can receive free ESOL lessons, and, if not, after what period of time can they. You can then keep the e-mail and use its contents to your best advantage when your wife goes to enrol.

Scouse.

[AZZZEY68]

we got it free and she was on a fiance visa,she still attends.

[Rj 81]

Cheers Scouse, azzey

I will send them an email. I hope it is free.

Will let you know the outcome.

Thanks

[AZZZEY68]

My wifes english is excellent from it now you think when they come to the uk they have good english but its poor,as we have so many accents here they struggle.She is now working at ASDA a few nights a week getting just under 8 pounds a hour loads of baht she keeps telling me.

Edited May 9, 2007 by AZZZEY68

[Janner]

I asked a couple of months ago at my local college about this and was informed it was free after my wife had been here for 12 months.

Janner

[Monkeypants]

AFAIK, Local authorities have the power to make there own decisions as to who should and should not pay for ESOL classes, it very much depends on where you live.

For example last year it was free in our area, This year you have to pay £300.00

[cuddleypete]

hi there my wife is on a settlement visa and yes after one year we went to collage and the course if free which she has just passed ,and she is still going to collage twice a week,

i would check with your collage about the fees and course

all the best pete and som

[Rj 81]

Hi Guys

I'm currently still corresponding via email with the local college regarding ESOL course fees. Nobody seems able to give me an answer. I just keep getting passed around from person to person.

I'm also asking them whether or not my wife will have time to complete the course before she has to apply for ILR. This is quite worrying really. My wife has to apply for ILR in June 2008. Does anybody have any advise?

I think the ESOL course would be better for my wife as the test is quite difficult from what I have heard. Or do you think if she starts studying now for the test she will be able to pass?

From what I've gathered from the home office web site, it seems that if you have not passed the LIT UK test or completed the ESOL with Citizenship course by the time the visa is due to expire you then have to apply for an extension. I don't know how much that costs.

Thanks

[Mahout Angrit]

From what I've gathered from the home office web site, it seems that if you have not passed the LIT UK test or completed the ESOL with Citizenship course by the time the visa is due to expire you then have to apply for an extension. I don't know how much that costs.

Correct..... Further leave to remain currently would cost £395.

You can check if your wife can manage the test by buying the book of the syllabus from WH Smith, Amazon.co.uk or Life in the UK web site.

Many wives of contributors to this forum have passed the test, it needs some study but I should think the course is easier. Good Luck

[the scouser]

You should have plenty of time, RJ81. Mrs. Scouse passed the Life in the UK test after 2-3 months' preparation, and another member from Sheffield reported that his wife passed the ESOL with Citizenship course just by turning up for lessons every day for 12 weeks. However, that said, the sooner passed the better, and the qualification never ceases to be valid.

Scouse.

[Rj 81]

Cheers Guys

Thats put my mind at rest a bit. Well I'll see what the college says, if we have to pay we'll do the test instead, if not, we'll do the ESOL course, haaarrr.

Thanks

[Mossfinn]

Hi Rj,

The wife passed the test also after a period of time, can't remember how long but certainly not excessive.

Buy the book, practise hard, question often and your partner will do well, in my opinion.

Put behind you all the talk you will hear about how pointless some of the questions are, no one will disagree, they are even blatantly wrong on occasion, but that is not the point, it is all about reading and learning and a memory test on three or four, maybe five chapters that relate to the particular visa you are aiming for, I believe they have changed the chapters required this year although not the amount of questions or the difficulty.

So read the blurb at the front, that will tell you the chapters required, others are dedicated for business opportunities etc, so no need to read it chapter and verse.

It is computer, multiple choice, so it might be handy, if she is not already competent, giving a few pointers on the use of a key board and mouse.

Good Luck

Moss

[richellis98]

As I see it the new immigration rules are a half thought out farce.

My wife came to the country in 2004 on a tourist visa, last October 2005 we got married and in November 2005 she came to the UK on a settlement visa. She has been lucky and started English classes in September 2006 which were free. The school she attended said she should have had to wait till Nov but they were very helpful and bent the rules.

Recently she brought a letter home saying she'd have to pay £1.40 an hour for lessons, she's doing approx 10hrs a week. This is because the government has changed the rules as there will be many more people needing lessons due to the new visa requirements.

The next problem as I see it is the new requirement need you to pass the test or do a language course with citizenship content. Now my wife can talk for Thailand in English but her reading and writing is very poor. Therefore as I see it she needs to go on a course. The course she is doing she really enjoys but it does not have the citizenship content.

On reading up I rang the Life in the UK Website they gave me another number who gave me another number who told me that there is only 13 centres around the UK that do the course. I know that is a lie because the college my wife is at does this course but not till Sept, its a 10 week course which will take her over her visa requirement. We'll have to pay £400ish pounds for the visa extension. Then to get on the course you have to be able to speak a better level of English than my wife has. (she is doing ESOL 1 to get on the course you must be ESOL 2 , to do the test you are expected to be ESOL 3 standard

On questioning this the "helpline" said well we recommend your wife does the test...... does anyone else see the failed logic of this. I can only surmise that they are advising me to cheat because there isn't the infrastructure in place to support this new legislation.

My options as I see it are

1)Help her study, which I'm trying to do but you can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. Do the test and hope.

2)Cheat; will they really check the id and one small, tanned, blacked haired, brown eyed Thai girl can look much the same as another. (If any one has recently taken the test and lives around the SE of England, would be willing to help I'd be interested to hear from you). I've always tried to do the visa stuff the right way but its the one's that do it the correct way that pay for everyone else.

3)Keep paying the Government money, renewing her visa till she is at the required standard.

I am producing a powerpoint presentation of the Life in the UK information, if anyone is interested in getting a copy please get in touch. I'm going through the book with my wife and I thing as many different ways of presenting this information will help.

To top it all there was a rally of Illegal immigrants in Trafalgar Sq the other day, and the Archbishop is saying they should be allowed to stay and work. Why if they are Illegal were they not rounded up and sent back.

Sorry if this is abit of a rant. Any help/ advice will be gratefully accepted.

[Mossfinn]

My options as I see it are

1)Help her study, which I'm trying to do but you can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. Do the test and hope.

2)Cheat; will they really check the id and one small, tanned, blacked haired, brown eyed Thai girl can look much the same as another. (If any one has recently taken the test and lives around the SE of England, would be willing to help I'd be interested to hear from you). I've always tried to do the visa stuff the right way but its the one's that do it the correct way that pay for everyone else.

3)Keep paying the Government money, renewing her visa till she is at the required standard.

1) Is far your best option, do the hard yards and help your wife as best you can, remember it is multiple choice, so a reasonable chance of discounting one, and being able to deduce a good bet on the ones she doesn't even know.

If you have time, I would suggest this is the best way forward.

2) A little foolish would be an understatement.

3) Is an option but I would go for the test after some intensive help from yourself.

Good luck, except for option 2 that is

Moss

[richellis98]

My options as I see it are

1)Help her study, which I'm trying to do but you can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. Do the test and hope.

2)Cheat; will they really check the id and one small, tanned, blacked haired, brown eyed Thai girl can look much the same as another. (If any one has recently taken the test and lives around the SE of England, would be willing to help I'd be interested to hear from you). I've always tried to do the visa stuff the right way but its the one's that do it the correct way that pay for everyone else.

3)Keep paying the Government money, renewing her visa till she is at the required standard.

1) Is far your best option, do the hard yards and help your wife as best you can, remember it is multiple choice, so a reasonable chance of discounting one, and being able to deduce a good bet on the ones she doesn't even know.

If you have time, I would suggest this is the best way forward.

2) A little foolish would be an understatement.

3) Is an option but I would go for the test after some intensive help from yourself.

Good luck, except for option 2 that is

Moss

Morally you have the high ground there, practically though........ Have you looked at the test, I'm assuming not?

I would much rather she does the course but there are no provisions for her to do this. All the advisiors say is

" Your're right there is no course, thats why we recommend she just does the test"

If I'm missing something I apoligise, but if it comes down to paying £400ish pounds or cheating........ does it really matter how many constituencies are in the UK parliament, or the what principles the civil service is allegedly based on (professionalism and neutrality)

But yes I will surrender the moral high ground to you.

[the scouser]

It's a massive assumption that you're making, saying that one Thai woman looks, to the invigilator, pretty much like any other.

I don't know what the organisation conducting the test would do if your wife were caught using a stand-in, but theoretically the act constitutes a pecuniary advantage and fraud. You wouldn't really want them to involve the police, would you?

Scouse.

[Mahout Angrit]

My options as I see it are

1)Help her study, which I'm trying to do but you can lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. Do the test and hope.

2)Cheat; will they really check the id and one small, tanned, blacked haired, brown eyed Thai girl can look much the same as another. (If any one has recently taken the test and lives around the SE of England, would be willing to help I'd be interested to hear from you). I've always tried to do the visa stuff the right way but its the one's that do it the correct way that pay for everyone else.

3)Keep paying the Government money, renewing her visa till she is at the required standard.

1) Is far your best option, do the hard yards and help your wife as best you can, remember it is multiple choice, so a reasonable chance of discounting one, and being able to deduce a good bet on the ones she doesn't even know.

If you have time, I would suggest this is the best way forward.

2) A little foolish would be an understatement.

3) Is an option but I would go for the test after some intensive help from yourself.

Good luck, except for option 2 that is

Moss

Morally you have the high ground there, practically though........ Have you looked at the test, I'm assuming not?

If you had read just one post further back in this thread you would have seen that the author of the comment you quote had indeed looked at the test and his wife has passed it.

There has been much discussion in this forum about the content of the test and the irrelevance of the questions but getting settled in the UK and gaining citizenship is getting harder and most would say rightly so. This test is not just for Thai ladies but for every single immigrant outside the EU.

Many thousands of settlers to UK including many hundreds of Thai women have already taken and passed the test. I'm sure you are not trying to tell this forum that your wife is less capable of learning or less intelligent than those.

It is not easy for Thai ladies to settle in UK, there are many difficulties both for her and her husband but with effort and determination the result is rewarding. Make the effort.