British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer has said new arrivals in the country would have to attain higher proficiency in English language as part of a range of Labour measures to control immigration
Keir Starmer says the immigrants and asylum seekers language proficiency system ‘will be tightened up’ in all areas, following sharp rise in support for Reform UK in elections
According to the new plan, adults accompanying foreign workers to the UK will be expected to pass an English language test and care homes will be prevented from recruiting staff from abroad as part of a swathe of new measures to “tighten up” the immigration system.
The government will also end the right of foreign workers to automatically apply for settlement in the UK after five years, instead extending their wait to a 10-year requirement, the prime minister will say.
The announcements are part of Labour’s long-awaited white paper on immigration to be put before parliament on Monday, also included will be plans to deport more foreign criminals, tell employers they must train UK staff and requirements that skilled workers entering Britain have a degree.
UK net migration, stood at 728,000 in the 12 months to June 2024 whilst under the last Conservative government, the figure surged to more than 900,000.
“Every area of the immigration system, including work, family and study, will be tightened up so we have more control,” the prime minister is expected to say on Monday.
Details of Proposed Policy
If this policy goes through, every adult accompanying a worker into the UK will be expected to pass an online English Level A1 test, which demands understanding of everyday expressions, and seeks questions and answers on simple personal details such as where he or she lives.
If workers apply for an extension to a visa, their dependants will be expected to pass the more advanced English A2 test. If they apply for settlement, they will be expected to pass a B2 exam, which requires them to understand “complex text on both concrete and abstract topics” and “interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity”.
English language requirements across every immigration route will be raised at some point in the future, sources said, which could force people who arrive in the UK from war zones to be tested on language skills before being granted permission to enter the UK.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said on Sunday that the care worker visa would be closed for overseas recruitment under proposals in the white paper.
Cooper said companies should recruit from a pool of people who came as care workers in good faith but had been “exploited” by unscrupulous employers.
“Care companies should be recruiting from those workers. They can also extend existing visas. They could recruit as well from people who are on other visas, who are already here. But we do think it’s time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad,” she said.
