FLR A2 English requirement - specific date?

[Bleakey]

My wife can submit her FLR application anytime after 14 October 2016. I am aware the govt have proposed a new A2 requirement from October, but I can't find a specific date when this will begin. I've spent the past hour looking for info online, and attempting to contact immigration helplines, but with no success. Does anyone know when the new A2 requirement officially starts?

 

Also, am I wasting my time printing and completing the (90-odd page) FLR application form now? Presumably the form will be changed when the new language requirement takes effect.

 

Sorry, if this has been covered on the forum already. I did try searching...

[Bleakey]

Have just spoken to 2 people on the UK govt visa helpline (0300 123 2241) and am now more confused than ever.....

 

My wife is on the 5-year route to ILR (as a family member of a person settled in the UK) . She originally entered the UK on 14 May 2014 using an A1 certificate to satisfy the language requirements.

 

According to the people on the helpline she won't need to meet the new A2 requirement because she's already started the path to eventual ILR and her FLR application will be treated by UKVI as a visa extension. As such the A1 pass used in her previous application will be adequate even after October. She will only need a B1 pass when she applies for ILR.

 

The staff on the visa helpline informed me the A2 requirement will only apply to applicants making an initial application in the UK. An example they gave was someone in the UK on another visa, who then married and applied for FLR.

 

I was sceptical about the advice given, and insisted on speaking to another senior member of staff, but was then told exactly the same. Although, they don't issue the visas, they both appeared to know their stuff, and although their advice contradicts what I've been reading online, I'm inclined to believe them.

 

As an aside they advised me they haven't been given a specific date for when the new A2 requirement will formally be implemented, and as the official government helpline, they're usually advised 1 month in advance.

 

Any comments / thoughts from the visa gurus here? Shall I follow the advice given, submit the application using the previous A1 certificate and keep my fingers crossed?

[rasg]

Not sure where I read it and now can’t find it but I think it's the 18th October.

 

Why not email one of the colleges that do the tests? They will know.

[Bleakey]

^ Thanks for the suggestion. I've just spoken with an adviser at Trinity College, London. All they know is that the A2 requirement will come into effect sometime in October, but they haven't been given a specific date.

 

 

 

 

[rasg]

No problem. If they don't know nobody will except maybe the Government. I must have been wrong about the 18th then...