Uk Demands Foreign Brides Must Speak English

[rimbung]

From The Times February 21, 2008

Foreign brides who plan to live in Britain ‘must speak English’

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

Thousands of foreigners who want to marry a British person and move to Britain will have to take an English language test, the Prime Minister announced yesterday.

Gordon Brown said that the test would help to prevent foreign brides being exploited. He made his surprise announcement only five hours after a Home Office Green Paper on overhauling citizenship rules said that consultations on English tests for foreigners were continuing.

The Prime Minister said in a speech in North London: “We will introduce a new English language requirement for those applying for a marriage visa and planning to settle in the UK — both as part of our determination that everyone who comes here to live should be able to speak English and to make sure that they cannot be exploited.”

The English language test will apply to tens of thousands of spouses, particularly those from the Indian sub-continent. A total of 47,000 spouses and fiancées, including 17,000 from the sub-continent, were admitted to the UK in 2006. Ministers have for some time been concerned that some of those arriving from the sub-continent have no knowledge of English, are vulnerable to exploitation and cannot get access to the job market. It was unclear last night whether failure to pass the English language test would lead to outright refusal to come to Britain or whether a temporary visa would be granted.

Mr Brown’s announcement came after proposals to reform citizenship rules under which migrants who want a British passport or to settle permanently in the country will have to undergo a probationary period of up to three years.

Foreigners will be expected to leave the country if they fail to take citizenship or apply to settle permanently, as the Government seeks to end the situation where migrants “languish in limbo” having been allowed to stay.

The Government is also considering ending the “ancestral visa” scheme under which Commonwealth citizens aged over 17 with a British grandparent are allowed to enter Britain to seek work and settle.

A scheme under which retired migrants with an annual income of at least £25,000 are allowed to enter Britain, receive free healthcare and then settle may also be scrapped.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, made clear that she expected the number of new citizens — more than 1.1 million since Labour came to power 1997 — to increase as a result of the overhaul of citizenship rules. She said: “I would want to see a larger proportion of those that are here moving to full British citizenship. You will not be able to languish in limbo. Once your period of temporary residence comes to an end you will need to apply for the next stage or leave.”

Gaining citizenship will take at least six years from arrival in the UK instead of the current five years, and could take as long as eight years.

The probation period will last a year if the foreigner takes part in community activities such as charity fundraising, running a sports group or other voluntary work.

Migrants who undertake no community or voluntary work will have to wait the existing five years plus a minimum three years on probation.

Full access to non-contributory benefits will not be granted after a person has been in the UK for five years, but only after an applicant has completed the probationary period.

A fund financed by a surcharge on immigration applications will be set up to give cash to areas that experience problems because of immigration, such as oversubscribed schools. The fund is expected to raise tens of millions of pounds a year.

Migrants who have served a prison sentence will be barred from citizenship and minor offenders given a non-custodial sentence may have to serve three years on probation.

A draft Bill based on the proposals is due this summer, and full legislation is expected in November

[vinny]

See also Current consultations.

[david96]

Citizens of the EU will not be affected according to an Australian newspaper report.

However Australian citizens will be affected along with NZ and "the English speaking races."

[gunnyd]

Sounds like the Brits have the right idea when it comes to immigration. In my home in Arizona a state that borders Mexico, we have a huge problem with legal and illegal immigrants never learning to speak English. On four occasions the citizens of Arizona have voted in overwhelming majority, referendums making English the official language of the state and every time the law has been shot down in the courts as unconstitutional. It is just common sense that you should learn the language of the country you are planning on living in. In California the ballots are printed in over 50 different languages because people immigrate to neighborhoods where their fellow countrymen live and never have to learn English to go about their daily lives.

Hope the UK doesn't have the same problems with activist judges and is able to pass this legislation.

[buffcoat]

No surprise in this at all, the consultation if it had any meaning was only to gauge some reaction to the level of English required.

Personally I believe they will insist the test is passed before entry is granted...even this bunch of insensitive cretins must realise that the sight of wives being forcibly deported because they can't ask for the price of a cup of tea will be vile and would certainly be subject to challenge under the Human Rights Act.

Broadly I support the tighter controls but the thing that really p~sses me off is that the Govt. has failed to take effective action against the huge number of illegals and asylum seekers and is using it's tough stance on legal migration as a smoke screen.

In addition a lot of the anger in the UK is being generated by the strain on schools, housing etc caused by the massive inflow of EU citizens...none of these measures affect them in anyway.

The bottom line is that immigrants from outside the EU who wish to abide by the rules will have a much tougher time so that the Govt. can claim it is doing something about the wider issue (when in fact it is not).

[david96]

Community service for Aussies seeking UK citizenship

The Age, Melbourne.

February 21, 2008 - 11:34AM

Australians seeking UK citizenship will have to prove their worth to society through community service if they want to take the fast track to a passport under British Government proposals unveiled today.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants migrants to "earn" citizenship rather than being able to apply for naturalisation on the basis of how long they have lived in the UK, as is the case now.

"The rights and benefits of citizenship will be available to those who can demonstrate a commitment to our shared values and a willingness to contribute to the community," Smith said.

The introduction of "probationary citizenship" means it will take at least six years from the time of arrival for a person to become a UK citizen, a year longer than under current rules.

The probation period will last 12 months if the foreigner takes part in community activities such as volunteering, charity fundraising, or running a sports team.

Migrants who do not take part in community work will have to wait longer - the existing five years plus a minimum of three years' probation - and it may even become compulsory.

Only European Union citizens will be exempt.

Smith also said she wanted more people who move to Britain to take out citizenship.

"You will not be able to languish in limbo," she said.

"Once your period of temporary residence comes to an end you will need to apply for the next stage or leave."

Immigration minister Liam Byrne said only 49 per cent of eligible Australians currently took up British citizenship.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said the existing provision for some Australians to gain indefinite leave to remain, or permanent residency, without taking citizenship would not be abolished under the new plans.

But they would be encouraged to apply for citizenship because that was the only way they could gain access to welfare benefits like child support.

"People won't have to take up citizenship if they choose not to and if they don't, they won't be asked to leave the country," she said.

The government is also proposing would-be migrants with children or elderly relatives pay an additional levy on their normal visa fees to ease pressure on services such as healthcare.

Shadow home secretary David Davis criticised the moves as "a complicated, expensive, bureaucratic set of mechanisms to deal with the adverse consequences of out of control immigration".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the introduction of English tests for foreigners who plan to marry British citizens and settle in the UK.

Today's announcements are part of a massive overhaul of British immigration policy, which includes the introduction this month of an Australian-style Points Based System to restrict migration to those with skills needed in the UK.

A draft Bill based on today's proposals is due mid-year with legislation expected in November.

Changes will apply to new arrivals after the laws are passed, not foreigners already living in the UK, meaning reforms are likely to affect only migrants arriving from 2010.

AAP

[the scouser]

Thread tidied up.

Can we keep this one on track, please.

Scouse.

[scotty123456789]

Sorry Scouse, but you know where im coming from.

Maybe im moving away from the topic, but, I know manty people agree with me..

[david96]

Britain considers scrapping ancestry visas

From "The Australian" newspaper. 23/2/2008.

They have been a key pathway for Australians to work in Britain for more than 35 years, but ancestry visas could soon be axed in the UK.

The proposal was buried deep inside a lengthy document released by the British Government this week as part of a massive overhaul of its citizenship rules.

The move has sparked outrage among some MPs, who believe abolishing the ancestry visas which have been available to Commonwealth citizens since 1972 could damage relations with member countries including Australia and New Zealand.

A green paper released by the Government setting out its proposed new rules for citizenship calls for a debate over whether the "UK ancestry route should be abolished".

Under existing rules, Commonwealth citizens aged 17 and over can be granted residency if they can prove that one of their grandparents was born in the UK.

Those awarded visas are allowed to work in Britain and then apply for citizenship after five years.

But under the Government's planned changes to its citizenship rules, people seeking UK citizenship would have to "earn" the right to stay by proving their worth to society through community service activities.

An Australian-style points system for skilled migrants wanting to work in Britain is also being introduced.

"Given that the proposed immigration system provides explicit routes to the UK for those coming as economic migrants, family members or refugees, we need to decide whether a Commonwealth national's ancestral connections to the UK are sufficient to allow them to come here to work without the need to satisfy a resident labour market test," the green paper says.

"We are therefore asking this question as part of the consultation contained within this paper.

"We will take the results of the consultation exercise into account before coming to a decision."

Labour MP for Great Grimsby Austin Mitchell attacked the Government for trying to axe ancestry visas, saying they should remain out of respect for Britain's ties to Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

He also noted that a relatively small number of migrants moved to the UK after obtaining ancestry visas, with just 8490 arriving in 2006.

"The (Commonwealth) dominions sprang to our aid when we needed them in two world wars and since," he wrote in a letter to Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"They are keen to maintain the long-standing Commonwealth ties and associations with this country.

"Yet, the green paper blithely proposes to abolish the ancestry visas granted in recognition of these ties on the grounds that they are 'outdated'.

"We should have serious doubts about the judgment of ministers and officials who are willing to stir up feelings of bitterness and betrayal that will be provoked by their unthinking lack of concern for historic ties that so many of us value, here as well as there."

The Government is expected to table draft laws outlining the citizenship changes by the middle of the year.

The changes are likely to affect migrants arriving in the UK from 2010.

[thaibkk]

I can feel the problems comming....

Some Thai high in the head person will read this article and think

ahhhh... we can oblige farang in to speak Thai when they want to live here on something more than a tourist visa

otherwise, bye bye falang

[mellow1]

I can feel the problems comming....

Some Thai high in the head person will read this article and think

ahhhh... we can oblige farang in to speak Thai when they want to live here on something more than a tourist visa

otherwise, bye bye falang

If you want anything other than the temporary visa (Thai wife or retirement visa) this rule has been in effect here, for quite some time.

[david96]

Now you know why in 1901 the "White Australia" policy was introduced. The UK should put quotas on certain nationalities

if they are causing problems, remember any country can dictate who may live within its borders.

[Mosha]

The trouble in the UK is not the Thai brides or whoever not speaking English. It is people moving to the UK with no intention or desire to intigrate.

[lazeeboy]

I can feel the problems comming....

Some Thai high in the head person will read this article and think

ahhhh... we can oblige farang in to speak Thai when they want to live here on something more than a tourist visa

otherwise, bye bye falang

what a nightmare that could be

[Samuian]

I can feel the problems comming....

....................edit..........

ahhhh... we can oblige farang in to speak Thai when they want to live here on something more than a tourist visa

A tourist Visa does not qualify anyone to "stay" in the contry, nor to "live" in the country! Its entirely issued for the purpose of Tourism!

That is why there are Non Immigrant "B" and Non Immigrant "O" Visas - at the time I had applied for my Non "O" i was asked in Thai if I'd speak Thai and what I thought of the Thai Kitchen...and the country in General - it's in place already!

And I think that there is NOTHING wrong with the authorities having a closer look into these matters! To be able to communicate is a good step towards understanding, understanding is a good step towards integration, and integration is not assimilation!

I am born in Germany and went back 2 years ago and wondered why there are Ghettos where entire communities lived in "their cultural environment" - their language, their sript, their foods, customs.... hmmmm... "why would they have come in the first place?" I wonder....

Edited February 25, 2008 by Samuian

[Briggsy]

Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

And in addition most of these proposals will be watered down before they make it to law and then further watered down when challenged in the courts.

Edited February 25, 2008 by Briggsy

[ISANMAN]

Can't see the problem with Farangs having to be able to communicate in Thai. Anyone who has been here any length of time and has the decency to remember that Thai is the national language in this country should be able to communicate already.

[jonniebkk]

On four occasions the citizens of Arizona have voted in overwhelming majority, referendums making English the official language of the state and every time the law has been shot down in the courts as unconstitutional. It is just common sense that you should learn the language of the country you are planning on living in. In California the ballots are printed in over 50 different languages

Just for the record, you are also able to speak and read Thai and Tagalog also???

In a multicultural immigrant nation such as the US, the purpose of an election is to determine the choices of the legal electorate (voting age population) in a given city/county/state/nation regarding the issues on the ballot for that election. Therefore, the necessity of having the ballot and other election materials in languages appropriate for a given area.

To do otherwise, as you suggest, is just a ploy by right-wing nativist politicians and their supporters to deny voting rights to some of the fellow US citizens, who would likely not be supportive of their political positions.

An election is not a test of English language reading comprehension...but an attempt to determine the will of an electorate. Therefore, it is appropriate to have multi-lingual ballots in many areas of the US.

Edited February 26, 2008 by jonniebkk

[gregchambers]

Hi,

Does anyone know when the English language requirement is likely to become law?

[scotty123456789]

Aaaagh not this again

[britmaveric]

Makes sense, especially if one wants to function.

[scotty123456789]

The trouble in the UK is not the Thai brides or whoever not speaking English. It is people moving to the UK with no intention or desire to intigrate.

Agree ...................

[farangmal]

Hi,

Does anyone know when the English language requirement is likely to become law?

It's Law already in a way.

At the moment a new Thai Wife gets a two year leave to remain visa. Before that two years is up she must pass the life in the Uk test or go to Collage and sit ESOL (English speakers of other Languages) course. Lengths and times vary but the course must have a Citizenship sylibis.

In England they need one unit, in Scotland two. These units form tests in reading and writing, speaking and comprehension.

If they don't pass the life in the Uk test OR go to Collage and pass the units they cannot stay legally in the UK after two years.

My Wife just finished collage and we had a hard time getting a place because surprise surprise they were full of Eastern Europeans.

[the scouser]

Does anyone know when the English language requirement is likely to become law?

As well as the current English language/citizenship requirements for indefinite leave, the government is currently consulting on introducing language tests as a condition of spouses getting the settlement visa before they even set foot in the UK. Evidently they want to introduce this, otherwise they would be consulting on it, but there's currently no firm indication when this will be.

Scouse.

[gregchambers]

Hi, thanks for that clarification, guys. Didn't realise it was so tough after two/three years in the UK - there are still Thai gals who can't read Thai let alone English! I can imagine a lot of these courses are angled towards re-educating foreign wives to the good Blair/Brown socialist way.

Am I still right in thinking that a Thai married to a Brit can go to stay in EEC-land, getting both a free visa and no need to take any tests, under human rights laws? If so, one can expect an exodus to Portugal or Spain or Cyprus for those farang who can't or won't take Thailand seriously.

[JacknDanny]

Sounds like the Brits have the right idea when it comes to immigration.

Unfortunately the Brits have got absolutely NO idea when it comes to Immigration. One of the deciding features that made me come over here almost 10 yrs ago

Whether it is India/Pakistan or Eastern Europe, the UK is now awash with immigrants. That in itself does not cause the problem What i find unbelievable is the cost to the British taxpayer, and the fact that places like Oldham and Bradford, you can keep yourself occupied playing spot the whiteman

I know of at least 2 occasions when a wife/girlfriend has gone for these so called English tests, and the girl speaks better English than the interviewer

England is no more, its gone, lost in the mire of political correctness, and reverse racism

[backflip]

"...there are still Thai gals who can't read Thai let alone English!"

It's amazing how many of these women find a way to a farang man's heart.

[kevc]

They could always enter the UK as asylum seekers, then they wouldn't need to speak English they'd get a free home, money for living and a car thrown in as well.

[farangmal]

Hi, thanks for that clarification, guys. Didn't realise it was so tough after two/three years in the UK - there are still Thai gals who can't read Thai let alone English! I can imagine a lot of these courses are angled towards re-educating foreign wives to the good Blair/Brown socialist way.

Am I still right in thinking that a Thai married to a Brit can go to stay in EEC-land, getting both a free visa and no need to take any tests, under human rights laws? If so, one can expect an exodus to Portugal or Spain or Cyprus for those farang who can't or won't take Thailand seriously.

No, just the UK. They need to apply for a visa to even holiday in Europe from the UK.

The English language requirement became Law April 2007 as a result of the London underground bombers.

Edited February 27, 2008 by farangmal

[Big A]

Do Glaswegians have to take the test?!!!