Court of Appeal dismisses human rights challenge to Immigration Rule

[joebloggs]

The Home Office was successful in defending Immgiration Rules changes introduced to test migrants English language capabilities

The Court of Appeal announced at 10am, on Friday 12 April, that it had dismissed an appeal by Mrs Saiqa Bibi and Mrs Saffana Abdulla Mohammed Ali in their Judicial Review challenging the lawfulness of part of the family Immigration Rules.
Judgement

The Court of Appeal’s judgment came as a result of legal challenge against the rule, introduced in November 2010, which requires that spouses and partners must demonstrate a basic knowledge of the English language before being granted a visa to enter or remain in the UK.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper said:

We welcome the Court of Appeal’s judgment. We think it is important that spouses and partners coming to settle in the UK understand basic English so that they can participate and integrate in our society. We are very pleased that the courts agree with us.

The English language requirement was challenged on the grounds that it was irrational and also contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In particular, it was argued to be a disproportionate interference with the claimants’ rights under Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), contrary to Article 12 (right to marry) and discriminatory under Article 14. The High Court dismissed the claimants’ case on all grounds, finding the rule to be legitimate, proportionate and not in contravention of any ECHR rights.

read more here .. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c...migration-rule

[Dedworth]

Good news I hope the appellants go and live happily ever after with their husbands in Pakistan

[grahamw48]

It's probably such people who've caused all the tightening up of regulations that affects Filipinas who DO speak English, who DO fully integrate into the British way of life, and who DON'T come from societies rooted in the dark ages !

[bigmarco]

Decisions like that restore your faith in the justice system.
Of course it's perfectly reasonable to expect anybody wishing to settle here to have a basic understanding of the English Language. If you don't wish to learn the language, fine stay where you are.

[Terpe]

Decisions like that restore your faith in the justice system.
Of course it's perfectly reasonable to expect anybody wishing to settle here to have a basic understanding of the English Language. If you don't wish to learn the language, fine stay where you are.

Yes, I'd have to agree in principle.
Although having said that I would love to go back to Japan and live there.
I doubt my Japanese Language skills would meet A1 level but I managed to get along very well, I integrated very well and also tried to immerse myself in the culture.

So I do see all sides for these arguments.
As long as a married couple can communicate with each other within a common language of course. Can't understand how to have a meaningful relationship otherwise.

It's difficult enough sometimes with Philippine English

[joebloggs]

i wonder if you would say the same if your misses moved back to the phils and you couldn't because you couldn't read, speak or write Tagalog

[grahamw48]

Try owning property there..as an immigrant.

They have far more restrictions on immigrants than we do.

Also they use English almost as a second language.

Is Urdu widely spoken and understood by the majority British population ?

[Terpe]

i wonder if you would say the same if your misses moved back to the phils and you couldn't because you couldn't read, speak or write Tagalog

Say what the same? That the appeal decision was incorrect?

I thought I was saying that I'd like to live in Japan but wouldn't be able to pass a language level
That I could see all sides

Watch you blood pressure

[Terpe]

i wonder if you would say the same if your misses moved back to the phils and you couldn't because you couldn't read, speak or write Tagalog

Immigration rules in the Philippines, as with many countries these days, are also getting tougher.
Who knows what they'll be by the time I move there.
If I want to apply for residence permit (even temporary one) I need to supply an ACRO Police Clearance Certificate (fully notarised by the Philippine Embassy in London) along with evidence showing proof of financial stability and capability to support myself, my wife and any dependants.
Although there is no specified amount it has been suggested that BI are looking for a minimum of $800 per month income for a single person and minimum $1500 per month income for a couple.
This happens to be exactly those amounts prescribed under the various Retirement Schemes.

Part of the documentary evidence is 6 months bank statements showing the sufficient needed income

These are new requirements since January 2013

If I wanted to progress to Philippine citizenship there are still more quite onerous requirements, including the capability to speak Tagalog (or other dialect)

There are many senior politicians in Philippines who want to see even tougher controls on immigration.

Who knows what will be introduced.
Language skills? I doubt it but who knows.

Maybe I'll find out soon enough if the time comes when Philippines want to limit immigration.

[Terpe]

i wonder if you would say the same if your misses moved back to the phils and you couldn't because you couldn't read, speak or write Tagalog

In principle the appeal was made on the back of the original ammendment to bring in a pre-entry language test rather than the existing post-entry language test.
Don't forget that the pre-entry test is considered to be a much lesser level than post-entry testing.

The major reasons for the appeal being that the country of origin was one

..It was argued that significant numbers of applicants for spouse visas find it difficult or impossible in practice to satisfy the new rule.
There are, it is stated, a number of reasons for this difficulty. They include living in places where English tuition and testing facilities are not available, having little or no education, being of limited intellectual ability, and being of an age when learning a new language will be very difficult.

It's very well worth reading the court proceedings and conclusions of the panel.
At one point there is mention of the allowable intervention of the Home secretary .....

....."exceptional compassionate circumstances" preventing an applicant from meeting the requirement. It is well-established that the Secretary of State has in any event a discretion to depart from the strict terms of the Immigration Rules where she considers it appropriate to make a relaxation in an individual case, so the reference in sub-paragraph (a) (ii) (c) merely makes explicit what is always implicit. If anything, it represents a more restrictive approach, since it requires that the applicant show that he or she is prevented from meeting the requirement by the exceptional circumstances. According to the Home Office evidence of Mrs Sayeed, this would cover applicants who have no test centre anywhere in the country of which they are a national (first witness statement, paragraph 12). It would not, however, apply to countries such as India and Pakistan, where there are test centres but where the distance involved may make it extremely difficult for an applicant to obtain access to the necessary tuition and testing.

[jake]

Peter, the residency permit has always asked to see proof of financial capabality to support you and your family. The chap who looked at mine must have forgot his glasses that day

I know somebody who has just gone through the process last month and the only thing that has changed is the police clearance.
This was done here in the Philippines.

[Terpe]

Peter, the residency permit has always asked to see proof of financial capabality to support you and your family. The chap who looked at mine must have forgot his glasses that day

I know somebody who has just gone through the process last month and the only thing that has changed is the police clearance.
This was done here in the Philippines.

That's what I thought too, until someone mentioned that a Senior Immigration Officer had mentioned about specific amounts.
I've spent countless hours trying to find anything about specific amounts without much success except for the income needed for Retirement Visa.

Well you've given me a bit more positive news.
Maybe I'll challenge the validity of this guy's sources.

I don't see the Police Clearance being an issue for me.

[grahamw48]

It used to be $75,000 required in a savings account...but could be withdrawn at a later date. (For retirement visa).

[Terpe]

It used to be $75,000 required in a savings account...but could be withdrawn at a later date. (For retirement visa).

There's quite a few different 'products' now Graham. They don't seem to be marketing them like they used to.

The 'Classic' scheme for older pensioners (50+) requires $10,000 plus the pension incomes mentioned above.

Actually quite a good deal for a single bloke.

[grahamw48]

Yeah, but what on earth would a single bloke do there ?

[Terpe]

Yeah, but what on earth would a single bloke do there ?

[andy222]

I agree with the original post. People who want to come to this country should be able to speak english. . It amazes me some people who live here cant speak english but they know how to claim benefits.

[Dedworth]

I agree with the original post. People who want to come to this country should be able to speak english. . It amazes me some people who live here cant speak english but they know how to claim benefits.

And in many of these "communities" they have no intention of ever learning a smattering of English

[Dedworth]

I agree with the original post. People who want to come to this country should be able to speak english. . It amazes me some people who live here cant speak english but they know how to claim benefits.

That's because there are taxpayer funded interpreters and leaflets in 50 languages on hand