Proposed UK citizenship reforms

[Tom & Nok]

The Home Office has issued a press release following the Home Secretary's speech during the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday.

There is to be a public consultation on reforms to the Life in the UK (LITUK) test.

There is to be a change to the English language level required for an application for naturalisation as a British citizen.

According to other sources, there will be a government White Paper next year on this followed by legislation during the following year (2020).

[rasg]

This could, potentially, be a pain. I was planning for my wife to do the LITUK early next year, much earlier than she needs to. (Her second FLR is needed in April). I was also going to get her to do the B1 test, rather than the A2, but we now don't know what the changes are going to be. I just know that they will change things if she gets B1 (just like they did when they introduced A2) and it would have saved £150 and two trips to Trinity.

[Elad]

My wife just recently passed LITUK and will be taking B1 before the end of the year. She will be applying for ILR May 2019, will she be safe? Does this mean the new requirements wont come into play until 2020?

[Samsung]

My wife just recently passed LITUK and will be taking B1 before the end of the year. She will be applying for ILR May 2019, will she be safe? Does this mean the new requirements wont come into play until 2020?

wow how many attempts may i ask ? fantastic result that ,B1 is not very hard my wife by passed the A2 ,i would say there is some kind of crossover from old to new rules i would say yes, has then they will leave themselves open to all kind of claims another 16 months for my misses we just wait and see .i would say the biggest rise will be the nhs surcharge ,cash cow it is .

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looks like the LITUK test might get a bit easier ,

[Elad]

wow how many attempts may i ask ?

She passed 1st attempt but for about 2 - 3 months prior to the exam she spent hours every day practising the online tests and exams until she was getting 100% in almost all 40 tests and 15 exams. it was just memorising the answers to to each question and when she took the actual exam she knew all of them except 1 and passed easily. still have to careful though because some of the question were reworded a little.

The 40 tests are here: https://lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk/tests/

the 15 exams here: https://lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk/exams/

[steve187]

She passed 1st attempt but for about 2 - 3 months prior to the exam she spent hours every day practising the online tests and exams until she was getting 100% in almost all 40 tests and 15 exams. it was just memorising the answers to to each question and when she took the actual exam she knew all of them except 1 and passed easily. still have to careful though because some of the question were reworded a little.

The 40 tests are here: https://lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk/tests/

the 15 exams here: https://lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk/exams/

My wife did te same a few years back, and also past first time

[banporman]

Javid was right when he compared this nonsense to a pub quiz, and one that most born in the UK would fail eg

Who were the first people to arrive in Britain in what we call the Stone Age?

[Tom & Nok]

The current LITUK test has been regarded by many as not fit for purpose for some time. It will be interesting to see how the proposed LITUK replacement "British Values" test for immigration purposes is designed and delivered. I suspect that it might pay regard to the 2014 DfE guidance for schools on promoting British Values.

The local authority ESOL provision which I now work with includes British Values as part of the induction programme for students each term - that includes returning students. These reflect DfE guidance:

[banporman]

All well and good, but the freedom of speech seems to becoming under serious threat the past couple of years, without going into those being banned from the country and another one arrest for reporting on rape gangs. Then of course the laughable Nazi saluting dog owners arrest and conviction.
This week has seen a kid getting detention for voicing his support of UKIP at School! Police resources are taken up monitoring twitter for 'hate' while the streets in London have become very dangerous.

[Tobias]

All well and good, but the freedom of speech seems to becoming under serious threat the past couple of years, without going into those being banned from the country and another one arrest for reporting on rape gangs. Then of course the laughable Nazi saluting dog owners arrest and conviction.
This week has seen a kid getting detention for voicing his support of UKIP at School! Police resources are taken up monitoring twitter for 'hate' while the streets in London have become very dangerous.

This is nonsense, sadly people try to peddle this garbage and deliberately misreport facts to glean support for their own agendas.

Let’s stay on topic please and not derail this discussion on the proposed reforms.

[Tom & Nok]

My wife just recently passed LITUK and will be taking B1 before the end of the year. She will be applying for ILR May 2019, will she be safe? Does this mean the new requirements wont come into play until 2020?

Well done to your wife - a friend of my wife has failed it five times so far. Regarding your questions, to be honest, we just don't know. Javid's speech was good for conference sound bites for the media but there are arguably many more pressing matters for the government and parliamentary time at the moment and in the immediate future. Also, what if there's a change of government?

The only thing that we can be certain of is the uncertainty...

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Rasg, for what it's worth, there can be quite a delay between the government making a proposal and that proposal coming into effect. For example, the new A2 SELT requirement for FLR was announced on 18 January 2016 but it didn't come into effect until 1st May 2017.

You've said that your wife needs to apply for FLR in April, so she'll still need her SELT pass at A2 or higher. If you both feel that she's up for it then I would suggest going for B1 rather than A2 as both cost the same.

My own hunch, and it is no more than that, is that the SELT requirement for ILR/citizenship might be raised from B1 to B2 but, as happened with A2, only after Trinity has designed and offers a new GESE B2 SELT, and IELTS has similarly developed a new IELTS Life Skills B2 SELT.

We'll get a better idea of what may be in store when we see the proposed White Paper.

Watch this space...

[banporman]

Sorry if I was off target, but I do not see anything I posted as not a fact. These tests are useless as they just learn the answers parrot fashion. The important skill is the English language, not who invaded England in 1066.

[-Keith-]

Sorry if I was off target, but I do not see anything I posted as not a fact. These tests are useless as they just learn the answers parrot fashion. The important skill is the English language, not who invaded England in 1066.

I don't think anyone disagrees with that. I'd stick to posting crap music vids if I were you.

[banporman]

I don't think anyone disagrees with that. I'd stick to posting crap music vids if I were you.

why bring music into a thread like this? sounds like you are not a fan of Asian and Thai culture then, a surprising amount of blokes married the Asian females are not, strangely. There is a section for this music so I post in it, if not interested nobody forces you to look. But the posts I have made in the past three weeks have had nearly 1.000 views.

[-Keith-]

why bring music into a thread like this? sounds like you are not a fan of Asian and Thai culture then, a surprising amount of blokes married the Asian females are not, strangely. There is a section for this music so I post in it, if not interested nobody forces you to look. But the posts I have made in the past three weeks have had nearly 1.000 views.

I love the food, the people and the culture of Thailand. I don't like crap pop music by pre-pubescent kids that has nothing to do with Thai culture.

[Kingy]

I'm feeling anxious waiting for the next insult..Whats happening to this forum?

[Samsung]

i would say lack of faith by me ,and i should show her more encouragement and well shes passed everything else so why not a bit of study time ,have faith in my wife silly me all these visa s and test after six years you do get naffed off and worried ,