Migrants coming to Britain will be required to speak "fluent English" or face a decade-long wait to secure permanent residency under tough new immigration rules to be announced next week. The crackdown, part of Sir Keir Starmer's immigration white paper, will significantly raise the language standards required for those seeking to remain in the UK. Currently, migrants only need to demonstrate a basic understanding of English, but ministers now deem this insufficient for proper integration into British society.
Under the new proposals, the English language requirement will be raised from the current GCSE-level standard to the equivalent of an A-level in English as a foreign language. Labour is set to announce a tougher set of immigration rules Getty/PA This higher standard requires migrants to "express themselves fluently and spontaneously" and to speak English "flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes," according to the Home Office. The current standard is deemed too low to allow proper integration into British society.
Migrants will be told that "if you want to come here, you must contribute and integrate," a Government source told The Times. 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 certain conditions. The extended waiting period would apply to migrants where there are questions over their financial status or whether they have spent too much time outside the UK since arriving.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS Counter-terror police searched asylum hotels amid Iranian suspect raid WATCH: Emily Carver clashes with immigration lawyer over new Tory deportation bill Winston Churchill's legacy used to help museums 'put migration centre stage' Nigel Farage's party, fresh from a near-700-seat local elections landslide, was tipped by pollsters at YouGov to secure the votes of a staggering 29 per cent of Britons GETTY At present, most people who come to the UK on time-limited visas can apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years, which opens up eligibility for benefits and a path to citizenship. The measures are part of a package of changes aimed at fulfilling Labour's manifesto commitment to reduce net migration from its current level of 728,000. Ministers are seeking to counter the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which last week dealt electoral blows to both Labour and Conservatives in English local elections.
Net migration, which rocketed past 900,000 under the Tories, the use of asylum hotels and record levels of illegal Channel migrant crossings have boosted the Right-wing populist party's popularity. The Office for Budget Responsibility still expects net migration to settle at about 340,000 in the medium term. The white paper will also include measures to make it harder for international students to get jobs if they remain in the UK after graduation.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is expected to demand that foreign students will only be allowed to remain if they secure a graduate-level job. There will be a clampdown on the abuse of care visas and closer links between employers' access to visas and the actions they take to train UK workers. Industries facing labour shortages will be ordered to boost apprenticeship numbers or risk losing access to foreign staff.
The Conservatives have proposed similar measures, including doubling the residency requirement from five to 10 years for migrants applying to remain indefinitely.
