Immigrants originating from outside the European Union will now have to take the compulsory English Language Proficiency Exam, introduced by the Coalition Government

The newly elected Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition government has made it a point to stop immigrants with poor English to come into the UK. Under the new rules, any immigrants originating from outside of the European Union will have to take a compulsory English language proficiency exam.

Non-EU immigrants who married British citizens and would like to move to the UK are not spared either. They are also required to take the same English test. Some experts said that the problem stems from the overpopulation of London, and further increase in immigration will devastate the City in terms of accommodation, sanitary, transportation, and basic amenities.

Although the previous Labour government also proposed the same test regime to be introduced in year 2011, it is now estimated that the new English proficiency test system will be brought forward one year. The current government has said that it is keen to push on with this new requirement and would want the system to kick in as soon as possible. This was one of the Conservative party’s manifestos prior to the 2010 election when David Cameron said that the immigration rate is too high and pledged to take swift action to slash the numbers.

The compulsory English proficiency test will set a minimum standard on communication skills expected of all non-EU migrants. The Home office will roll out requirements for all non-EU citizens to take the test when applying for UK visa. Theresa May, Britain’s Home Secretary told the media that the ability to speak English is a pre-requisite for anyone who wants to stay in the UK in the future. The proficiency in English will ensure that all new immigrants are able to integrate into society without any problems.

The Home Secretary said that the first step is to toughen up the requirement of English test across the UK visa application system. Secondly, the government will want to put a limit on the numbers of work visas as well as student visas being issued each year.

New Rules Apply to Non EU Immigrants Already Living in UK

The new test regime is not only limited to new immigration applicants outside of the European Union; it also applies to those fiancées, spouses, or unmarried couples who are already residing in the UK. The government said that the new system aims to promote integration, water down cultural differences and protect public services. However, the government has not revealed whether the applicants will have to pay an extra fee to take the test.

Critics said the new test system in reality, is aiming at Asian immigrants especially those from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. We have seen a huge influx from these countries in recent years while other EU migrants are also coming to the UK. However, the UK government has to adhere to the EU policy of freedom movement of workers and therefore, the only way to slash population increment is on non-EU immigration.