English Test For The Missus

[bangbuathongben]

Hi all, its been a long time since I have been on TV and have just realised flicking through the posts that my wife has got to take a English test. We have been back in the UK now for neally a year, and what a year its been!! I went to see at the local collage about getting my wife English lessons, and at the time there courses were full, and were told to wait untill after christmas. My wife fell pregnant not long after us being in the Uk, and we were never called back after the holiday period about my wifes English course. And as the pregnancy went on, we were getting more and more involved with the baby and the English were kind of forgotten as we never heard back from the college. Now we have just had our baby and things are manic! And this English test has thrown things right up into the air. I am coping, but not living the high life at the moment, having to support a family on a single wage. I do a lot of overtime, and looking after a newborn is a full time job. My wifes English is not great to be blunt, partly my fault as I lived in LOS for 4 years and picked the language up fairly well. More recently I have been trying to cut out the Thai and only speak English. This is fine but I have found that my wife can speak to me in English ok, but struggles with others. In a nutshell, there is not much chance that even if she starts English lessons soon, that she will have the knowledge to sit down at a computer and take a test, let alone read it! This presents a problem. I am not sure what I can do. I will obviously be chasing the collage up tomorrow, but this may be too little too late. What happens if my wife's english is not good enough to pass the test? Surely they wont refuse her visa will they? This would be a absolute nightmare for my wife to return to Thailand, not just for her but the fact of my new baby daughter. I couldn't bare to be apart from them both!! Any suggestions or help on this subject and my situation would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Bang..............

[the scouser]

There's no need to fret. The English language requirement is part of the naturalisation process; i.e. qualifying for a British passport. In terms of your wife's immigration status, the next step will be to obtain indefinite leave to remain. As the name suggests, this enables your wife to stay in the UK for as long as she likes on her Thai passport, and there is no requirement to demonstrate an ability to speak English to a given standard.

Scouse.

[bangbuathongben]

Cheers Scouse. That is a relief I can tell you!!! I think I will definatly get on to the college tomorrow and sort a course out for the missus. Never know she might even make afew thai friends that would help her. Its unfortunate that where we live where we do, as there does not seem to be many thai's at all. Thanks for the help again mate

Cheers

Bang.............

[the scouser]

My wife has thoroughly enjoyed going to college and she made some good friends, too, including a Chinese lady who owns a chippy (I think I've died and gone to heaven - free chips for life!). So, if you can get your wife on the combined ESOL and Citizenship course, it's well worth it, although I can't guarantee free chips.

Scouse.