Migrants coming to live and work in Britain will be expected to speak a higher standard of English otherwise they may face a decade long wait to remain in the UK. The bold crackdown is part of Sir Keir Starmer’s tougher immigration reforms to ensure that overseas workers integrate into society.
Ministers are considering lengthening the time that applicants have to wait before they can make their residency permanent from five years to 10 years unless they meet significantly tougher certain conditions before being granted a UK visa. An immigration White Paper due to be published next week is expected to set out the reforms. The standard of English is expected to be raised to almost the equivalent of a foreign language A-level and applicants must be able to speak fluently and write confidently on complex issues.
The current standard, equivalent to English as a foreign language GCSE, is now deemed too basic to allow integration.
It requires migrants to be able to understand the main issues “regularly encountered in work, school or leisure”, deal with situations “likely to arise while travelling” and “produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest”.
Most migrants who come to Britain on time-limited work visas can currently make an application for indefinite leave to remain after five years.
The permanent status opens up eligibility to apply for benefits and a path to citizenship.
However, the crackdown would make it harder for migrants to get indefinite leave if there are questions over their financial status or whether they had spent too much time outside the UK since arriving.
The move comes as Labour faces mounting pressure to tackle Britain’s record net migration, which hit 728,000 last year and help to get more than nine million economically inactive people into work.
Government sources have said that the immigration white paper will include plans to “take tighter control to deliver a system that is controlled, selective and fair”.
Similar plans to extend the waiting period for indefinite leave to remain were set out by the Conservatives on Tuesday.
Both the Tories’ “Deportation Bill” and Labour’s plans to toughen its migration response come as both parties aim to win back voters from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.