Uk English Ability For Spouse Scrapped

[buffcoat]

The Home Office announced today that they will not require spouses to prove an English language ability before coming to the UK.

Instead they will be required to take English language courses when they get here.

The BIB will check they do and failure may be grounds for removal from the UK (hard to imagine with the right to family life in the EU Human Rights legislation.

[roygsd]

The Home Office announced today that they will not require spouses to prove an English language ability before coming to the UK.

Instead they will be required to take English language courses when they get here.

The BIB will check they do and failure may be grounds for removal from the UK (hard to imagine with the right to family life in the EU Human Rights legislation.

Sounds uk, but it falls down when you consider the influx of eastern european's in the uk, there is no way that legisaltion

can reqire them to learn english, as a consequence I think that the government could face claims under the equality/race legislation.

Roy gsd

Edited July 23, 2008 by roygsd

[buffcoat]

EU citizens have the right to live in the UK regardless of their language skills. This only applies to non-EU citizens marrying UK citizens.

The impact on Thai brides/fiancees is therefore to keep things almost as they are now since ILR requires proof of improvement in ESOL standard or passing the Life in UK test which is rated ESOL 3.

At the moment failure to demonstrate this improvement means you are only entitled to request/extend FLR.

I am guessing that as long as you prove you have attended classes or similar they will continue to grant FLR until you meet the required standard.

So good news for those planning to bring their Thai wife or fiancee to the UK,they will not have to go to English school before obtaining their visa.

[farangmal]

The Home Office announced today that they will not require spouses to prove an English language ability before coming to the UK.

Instead they will be required to take English language courses when they get here.

The BIB will check they do and failure may be grounds for removal from the UK (hard to imagine with the right to family life in the EU Human Rights legislation.

Sounds uk, but it falls down when you consider the influx of eastern european's in the uk, there is no way that legisaltion

can reqire them to learn english, as a consequence I think that the government could face claims under the equality/race legislation.

Roy gsd

The Eastern Europeans as the other poster said, don't require any English skills to come here. The BIG problem we found was getting my Wife a College space because ALL the ESOL with Citizenship classes were fully booked by EASTERN EUROPEANS.

We got one space but I had to drive Her 100 miles round trip.

Unless they have passed the ESOL with Citizenship the Home Office wont accept the ILR application. My Wife has Her fast track application on the 4th August and when I booked it over the phone they wanted assurance She had passed ESOL with Citizenship.

I believe if persons further leave to remain has expired they might (at their discretion) give another FLR in order for the person to have more time to pass the ESOL course or the Life In The UK exam.

But it is at their discretion. I believe this was being reviewed very soon.

[johnsurin]

I just took my wife to enrole for the ESOL course on monday. We were told that because we have not lived together in the UK for 1 year that my wife was not eligible for government assistance (subsidised), on the basis, I am working and do not claim any benefits from the state, and neither does she, being subject to immigration control.

I stated that we lived here together for 6 months last year (the wife) on a tourist visa, then returned to Thailand for my/our (at that time, while applying for a spouse visa), winter holiday (3 months). We have now been back in England for approx 3 & 1/2 months.

No joy. I was told I would have to pay over £4000 to get my wife on this course. Yet, 2 black guys, with no passports, were gleefully enroled.

How can they state that you have to take the ESOL course if they deny you access to it (unless you pay the £4G+).

Does anybody have any info on who to contact about this, I have looked and asked about, but no-one really seems to know.

Any help would be gratefully received.

John.....

[roygsd]

I just took my wife to enrole for the ESOL course on monday. We were told that because we have not lived together in the UK for 1 year that my wife was not eligible for government assistance (subsidised), on the basis, I am working and do not claim any benefits from the state, and neither does she, being subject to immigration control.

I stated that we lived here together for 6 months last year (the wife) on a tourist visa, then returned to Thailand for my/our (at that time, while applying for a spouse visa), winter holiday (3 months). We have now been back in England for approx 3 & 1/2 months.

No joy. I was told I would have to pay over £4000 to get my wife on this course. Yet, 2 black guys, with no passports, were gleefully enroled.

How can they state that you have to take the ESOL course if they deny you access to it (unless you pay the £4G+).

Does anybody have any info on who to contact about this, I have looked and asked about, but no-one really seems to know.

Any help would be gratefully received.

John.....

Dont know where you are based John but £4k sounds a bit steep to me?

You could start knocking her about and if she then reported you to the Police and spoke to a welfare group she would then become eligible for all benefits, ie get a flat paid for and Income support and a grat to kit out the flat ( usuallybetween £ 1or 2K) AND by pass the necessity to take the test by being granted ILTR on compassionate grounds.... You couldnt make it up could you

roygsd

[farangmal]

I just took my wife to enrole for the ESOL course on monday. We were told that because we have not lived together in the UK for 1 year that my wife was not eligible for government assistance (subsidised), on the basis, I am working and do not claim any benefits from the state, and neither does she, being subject to immigration control.

I stated that we lived here together for 6 months last year (the wife) on a tourist visa, then returned to Thailand for my/our (at that time, while applying for a spouse visa), winter holiday (3 months). We have now been back in England for approx 3 & 1/2 months.

No joy. I was told I would have to pay over £4000 to get my wife on this course. Yet, 2 black guys, with no passports, were gleefully enroled.

How can they state that you have to take the ESOL course if they deny you access to it (unless you pay the £4G+).

Does anybody have any info on who to contact about this, I have looked and asked about, but no-one really seems to know.

Any help would be gratefully received.

John.....

It depends on the College. My Wife went to Langside (Glasgow) and the course was free because She was Married to a British Citizen. Other Colleges wanted her to pay. It depends on their funding.

£4K seems an awful lot of cash. How long does that course run for?

Truth is they (immigration) don't know. They never informed us that my Wife would need LIfe in the UK or ESOL to get Her ILR. When I called Immigration they said...'So how long is the ESOL course, I know nothing about it'

They made this Law as a knee jerk reaction to the London tube bombings but in usual British style they didn't make any extra College spaces available.

The sad thing was that in Her Class She was the only 'legal' immigrant. The others were all Asylum seekers who by the way get a FOUR YEAR visa and benefits. Every benefit.

My Wife's Visa appointment is in 12 days time and if there's a problem with them granting Her the ILR they can stick it where the sun don't shine and we're booking one way flights to Thailand. Me, Her and our two British kids.

[roygsd]

.

It depends on the College. My Wife went to Langside (Glasgow) and the course was free because She was Married to a British Citizen. Other Colleges wanted her to pay. It depends on their funding.

£4K seems an awful lot of cash. How long does that course run for?

Truth is they (immigration) don't know. They never informed us that my Wife would need LIfe in the UK or ESOL to get Her ILR. When I called Immigration they said...'So how long is the ESOL course, I know nothing about it'

They made this Law as a knee jerk reaction to the London tube bombings but in usual British style they didn't make any extra College spaces available.

The sad thing was that in Her Class She was the only 'legal' immigrant. The others were all Asylum seekers who by the way get a FOUR YEAR visa and benefits. Every benefit.

My Wife's Visa appointment is in 12 days time and if there's a problem with them granting Her the ILR they can stick it where the sun don't shine and we're booking one way flights to Thailand. Me, Her and our two British kids.

Dont let it get to you, if you bail out now they will be grateful fo rthe space I guess.

If you have to jump another minor hoop or two in order to get theILR so what?

You know its the stress getting to you, just think of the peace of mind you will have when all of the family are able to come and go without worrying what crap legislation some politician might introduce in the future?

Once the passport arives back with that little paper attached all of stress the past few years will have been worth it.

Dont forget to let us know how she gets on with the test and also the ILR please.

[BIG SPUDS]

4k steep! vertical i would say.

I was lucky my wife had her esol course for free, but at the time of enrolement she was told it could be between £90 and £120 a term, if she had to pay. As other posters have wrote "she only needs to progress 1 level" My mrs started at entry level and progressed to level 1. A total of 14 lessons were arranged for the term, the tutor was sick for 3 of them my mrs never went to 2. She went to 9 x 2hr lessons.

She passed her test all she had to do was have 2 or 3, 3 minute conversations with another student in front of an examiner about various topics, i.e. shopping, TV, work, She also had a reading test but she failed that (i put that down to the tutor as she was never there and always out having a fag!) So if your mrs enrols and goes on the induction day (to asess her english ability and to decide at what level she will start) get her to act dumb and shy and to show she can speak very little english. She will get entered into entry level. She will improve obviously as she is better than first thought, over 9 weeks get her to talk a little more and not be so shy, she's progressed in the tutors eyes, hey presto! bobs your uncle fanny's your aunt, one certificate for the home office to wipe their fat <deleted> on! So dont pay any more and as for the 4k get that checked then checked again, im telling you now that is wrong, you can get a yrs tuition full time at a private school for a little more than that, no way will an 18hr course cost that!

Scam the system dont let the system scam you!

[farangmal]

Dont let it get to you, if you bail out now they will be grateful fo rthe space I guess.

If you have to jump another minor hoop or two in order to get theILR so what?

You know its the stress getting to you, just think of the peace of mind you will have when all of the family are able to come and go without worrying what crap legislation some politician might introduce in the future?

Once the passport arives back with that little paper attached all of stress the past few years will have been worth it.

Dont forget to let us know how she gets on with the test and also the ILR please.

There's no test. She's passed her ESOL with Citizenship at College and has the letter from the College too.

We're doing the fast track application in person at the P.E.O.

She gets the visa that day if everything's ok.

[gazza44]

EU citizens have the right to live in the UK regardless of their language skills. This only applies to non-EU citizens marrying UK citizens.

The impact on Thai brides/fiancees is therefore to keep things almost as they are now since ILR requires proof of improvement in ESOL standard or passing the Life in UK test which is rated ESOL 3.

At the moment failure to demonstrate this improvement means you are only entitled to request/extend FLR.

I am guessing that as long as you prove you have attended classes or similar they will continue to grant FLR until you meet the required standard.

So good news for those planning to bring their Thai wife or fiancee to the UK,they will not have to go to English school before obtaining their visa.

[gazza44]

Just a short peace of info on ILR and the process. When my wife went to the imagration with 1 level passed ESOL and a letter from her school it was still declined as the interpretation is in the hands of the imagration officer. They required level 2 before accepting her for ILR for us she had already taken level 2 exam but our two years were up before she had her results and certificates we were given FLR at a cost of £595 What we have since done with the advice of the school was to wait several months before applying again this has now been granted at a cost of £950 and now we are applying for citizenship more money but no more hassle once complete we only need hand in certificates for level 1 & 2 and copy of ILR to meet the requirements but it takes a while. My suggestion for all on citizenship is to go through your local nationality checking service as apart from certificates and copies of passports and few other documents you dont need anything else they are more helpfull and well worth the small fee. They check the application and send it off for you much better than sitting in a queue all day or sending hundreds of documents by post to home office. A very important peace of info do not let your wife do level 3 esol exams as once passed she then needs to do the life in uk test so she has wasted 3 years learning to comply when she might as well just learnt to do the exam in the first place which also is a quicker and cheaper option if you cannot find a school. There is still one hurdle once she is granted citizenship after a short ceremony where she will be given a certificate of citizenship she then has to apply for her british passport again costly now and requires an interview. I have a proven method of getting a passport quicker and without the need for interview all interested please ask

[oldbill]

Hi

We have just been granted ILR. I contacted the home office last year and I was told theat she had to be esol qualified. We went to our local college and having read the other posts it was the same for us trying to get on a college course. We eventually found a local course that wanted £95 and after 6 weeks the course was cancelled. Cut a long story short we bought a few books and a dvd off ebay and after two attempts at the uk life test passed got the cert sent it to the home office and ILR granted. It took us 4 weeks to getout passports back.

Cheers

[farangmal]

The day finally came...We went to the Public Enquiry Office at 09:00 and came out by 10:00 am.

Quite an easy process. The person at the desk said we had a lot of evidence and had put it all together really well.

I checked my Wifes ESOL and it was a pass at Level 2.

£950 lighter in pocket but very happy.

Edited August 4, 2008 by farangmal

[scyriacus]

You could start knocking her about and if she then reported you to the Police and spoke to a welfare group she would then become eligible for all benefits, ie get a flat paid for and Income support and a grat to kit out the flat ( usuallybetween £ 1or 2K) AND by pass the necessity to take the test by being granted ILTR on compassionate grounds.... You couldnt make it up could you

sounds somewhat cynical, but seems to be european law and practice! you're good, you're left in the cold. you're evil, your fined £10 legally, but your wife is eligible for many £k welfare. learn those lessons! but be glad, coz in germany they even demand german language skills (imagine!)