[lg policy] Foreign Spouses and Language Testing in the UK

[Gareth Price]

>>From the UK Daily Telegraph, below. (For non-UK readers, the Daily Telegraph
is a fairly right-leaning publication, hence the slightly bizarre claim that
English language competence is somehow linked to 'sham' marriages ...)

Foreign spouses must learn English before they come to UK
Tens of thousands of foreigners who want to marry Britons will have to learn
English before they arrive, it will be announced today.

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 7:00AM BST 09 Jun 2010

Partners or spouses of any migrant living in the UK will also have to
demonstrate a basic command of the language before they are allowed in,
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will say.
The new rules are expected to cut the number of foreign partners arriving in
the UK by a sixth and could help combat sham marriages.

It is the first step in a tightening of immigration controls that could see
tougher language requirements extended to other visa routes including
students. Further details of a planned cap on general immigration are also
expected before the summer recess.

However, the change will not apply to the hundreds of thousands of foreign
spouses already living in the country or Europeans.

Some 38,000 migrants were granted a spousal visa last year and a further
21,000 were granted settlement rights having lived here for two years.

The Home Office expects the new rules will cut numbers arriving by up to
6,000 a year.

>>From Autumn, anyone applying for a spousal visa will have a grasp of English
equivalent to that of a five to seven-year-old, which officials expect will
mean up to 50 hours tuition.
They will have to take an oral test with an agency acting for the Home
Office in their home country.

Labour scrapped a similar proposal in 2008.

Mrs May said: “It is a privilege to come to the UK and that is why I am
committed to raising the bar for migrants and ensuring that those who
benefit from being in Britain contribute to our society.
“This is only the first step. We are currently reviewing English language
requirements across the visa system with a view to tightening the rules
further in the future."

Student visa applications had to be temporarily suspended in India,
Bangladesh and Nepal earlier this year amid fears they were being used to
create sham marriages.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7810952/Foreign-spouses-must-learn-English-before-they-come-to-UK.html
-- 
Dr. Gareth Price
Visiting Assistant Professor
CSEEES/Linguistics Program
Duke University
Durham, NC
27708-2960
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