New requirements to get settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain - ILR) in the UK from 2 April 2007
New requirements to get settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain - ILR) in the UK from 2 April 2007
The Home Office has announced that people aged 18 to 65 who are applying for settlement (indefinite leave to remain - ILR) in the UK after 2 April 2007 will have to prove that they have both knowledge of life in the UK and knowledge of the English language. This will affect everyone applying for indefinite leave to remain, whether they are applying because they are married to a British Citizen or because they have worked here for over five years. If a family is applying for settlement, all members of the family aged between 18 and 65 will need to meet the requirements. European Economic Area (EEA) nationals are not affected.
Don't ignore these new changes!
If you are already eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain, or if you will be entitled to apply for it before 2 April 2007, you may wish to consider making your application before the new rules come into force. Some people will do this because they want to keep their application as simple as possible. Other people may be worried about failing to satisfy the new requirements.
If you will not be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain before 2 April then the best thing you can do to help yourself between now and April is to work to improve your English.
The requirements are familiar because they are the requirements people now have to meet to become British Citizens. They were introduced for people applying to be British Citizens in November 2005. There are two ways people applying for indefinite leave to remain will be able to meet the requirements, just as there are currently two ways in which would-be British citizens can now satisfy them.
The first way is to take the Home Office "Life in the UK" test. This is in English. The Home Office sell a book called "Life in the UK Handbook" to help you to prepare for the test. If you pass the test this will satisfy both the requirement that you know about life in the UK and the language requirement. If your English is not good enough to do this, you will need to get a approved qualification by attending a course in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) that includes materials about life in the UK (also known as "citizenship" materials).
If you are considering taking a course instead of the test, be careful to check that it is a course that leads to an approved qualification. Most courses cost money and places can fill up quickly.
You can take the Life in the UK test as many times as you like but if you do not qualify for indefinite leave to remain you will need to make sure you continue to apply for more time-limited leave if your existing leave is going to run out and you do not qualify for indefinite leave because you have not successfully passed the test or got a qualification from a course.
There are a very limited number of circumstances in which people do not have to satisfy the new requirements, for example in cases of extreme sickness or severe disability.
The information distributed so far by the Home Office suggests that people who qualify for or indefinite leave to enter - that is to say people who come to the UK having already got permission to stay indefinitely in the UK before they arrive, will not have to take the test, but until the Home Office publish the new rules we cannot be sure about this. Such people will in any case have to meet the knowledge of life in the UK and language requirements if they later wish to become British Citizens.
Don't ignore the new requirements. Help yourself by working on your English, and if you are worried about your situation, then get advice.
Alison Harvey, Gherson and Co.
