Sajeda Momin

London: English language tests are to be made compulsory for immigrants wanting to come to the UK from next year.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown laid out plans for his government for the next year in the Queen’s speech at the State opening of the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday morning.

With all the traditions and rituals that go with quaint ceremony and wearing the full regalia of the sovereign, the Queen said her government would be bringing in immigration legislation to simplify the process.

Along with the English language test a new draft immigration bill that makes the huge body of rules and regulations introduced in the last decade easier will also be brought in.

The language tests will be part of the points-based immigration system that the UK government has planned.

The new rules will mean that migrants coming to Britain to do skilled or highly skilled jobs will have to demonstrate an ‘acceptable’ level of English. The Home Office is also considering whether similar language tests would be applied to those who are coming in to the country to be reunited with their families.

However, Indian organisations see this as discriminatory as it will work against would-be migrants from the Indian subcontinent and Africa.

“It would mean that people from Englishspeaking countries which are predominantly white, would have no difficulty in passing the tests,while those from non-English speaking countries which are predominantly non-white, will be disadvantaged,” said Tara Mukherjee, president of Confederation of Indian Organisations.

The language tests already applies to most highly-skilled migrants and their spouses, and the extension can to be done without any new primary legislation. The tests were also criticised by Rhian Beynon of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.

“It seems bizarre and discriminatory to non-Europeans, particularly to those from countries where English is spoken, that they should meet an English language requirement to enter, work and settle here while nationals of countries like Poland and Italy do not,” he said. European Union nationals do not need to have a language test to come and work in the UK.

Source : DNA