Lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

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bapak
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Lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

Post by bapak »

Human rights lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

Please see follow link below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/2 ... lish-tests

Courtesy of the Learning Centre.
Arcadian
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Re: Lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

Post by Arcadian »

Common sense threatened by parasite human rights lawyers who stand to gain from the legal aid fund.
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Re: Lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

Post by caller »

I see the article states that the test is discrimantory and I agree that it is, although personally, I don't have a problem with that!

The Govt. should, but won't come clean about the fact its intention is to stop the flow of God knows how many generations of spouses, both male and female, from the Indian sub-continent, many from the same family villages and often cousins of those already in the UK.

In part, this is to do with the language/home slave issue which is all too common for the women when they get here, where they never learn English and become a serf for the spouses family, often controlled by a dollop of abuse. Then there are the birth defects.....

Just change the rules. State we have honoured our obligations and the no-questions asked entry approach is no longer vaild from x date. Want an arranged marriage? Well ban then from abroad, plenty from the UK to choose from.

The current system is wide open to abuse and as with so many other things in the UK, a complete overhaul of the rules are needed. Of course, as a result of HRA, the racism card et al, it will never happen.
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margaretcarnes
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Re: Lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

Post by margaretcarnes »

Callers' point about the 'home/slave' issue is very valid. Unfortunately it doesn't just apply to those women who have been imported to the UK as brides. It is still prevelant in marriages where couples have married in their home countries before moving to the UK, and is more to do with culture than any rules the Home Office cares to make.
Things do have to change though - and for the welfare and safety of women from abroad this has to be a start. Thankfully I've only ever been involved in helping 2 such cases, but I'm sure there are still far too many (Indian in particular) wives in the UK who live in ignorance of the help available to them. That shouldn't happen in any civilised society.
As for lining the pockets of Legal Aid lawyers - doubtful under the present climate of spending cuts. Legal Aid has already been drastically reduced for Family Law. The city where I work had 17 LA family law lawyers - now reduced to 7. Not enough to even provide fair representation for all parties in some disputes.
It seems more likely that English tests are intended to reduce the burden on Legal Aid.
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STEVE G
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Re: Lawyers condemn English tests for spouses coming to UK

Post by STEVE G »

Yes, they should scrap this law and introduce another that targets the real problem if it's actually aimed at stopping arranged marriages.
As it is, it just looks silly; your wife can be from any number of EU countries and not have to speak English, or be a non-English speaker from an English speaking country and have no problem but otherwise she has to speak English.
If you marry a Thai from Thailand she has to pass the test, but if she was a Thai you met in a restaurant in the EU, she wouldn't!
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