Getting a UK visa now becomes tougher
For those aspiring to immigrate to Britain, the procedure of getting a visa has become tougher with Prime Minister Gordon Brown laying down new rules.
Immigrants to Britain will now have to sail through a compulsory English language test and those having marriage prospects in mind will have to wait just a little bit more as the minimum age for a marriage visa has been raised from 18 to 21.
This initiative will assist the British government's "crackdown on forced and sham marriages" as it is aimed at protecting vulnerable women from the Indian subcontinent, who come to Britain through arranged marriages and find themselves exploited because they do not know English.
It is estimated that some 17,000 spouses from the subcontinent came to Britain in 2006. Among these, there has been widespread concern over reports of exploitation of young, often semi-literate, brides from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh by their husbands and or in-laws. As these women cannot speak English, they are not able to approach police or social services.
So the move is related to attempts to ban "forced" marriages that are blamed for domestic violence against vulnerable women from the subcontinent.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the idea was to make sure that those who came to Britain to join their spouses were not exploited for lack of knowledge of English.
"We will introduce a new English language requirement for those applying for a marriage visa and planning to settle in the U.K., both as part of our determination that everyone who comes here to live should be able to speak English and to make sure that they cannot be exploited," Brown said.
"We are consulting on changes to the process for applying for a marriage visa from overseas, including more in depth interviews for couples, raising the minimum age of a spouse and their sponsor from 18 to 21, and additional scrutiny of multiple applications submitted over a short period," he added.
Speaking on 'Managed Migration and Earned Citizenship' at the Camden Center, London, Brown said those applying for a marriage visa and planning to settle in the UK will now have to pass a new English language test.
Brown also shared how he proposes to counteract the illegal immigration issue.
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