Marcia just found out last week that everyone who wants to live in the UK now has to take a test. This isn't only if you want to become a UK citizen, like in the US with their test, but even when you're just applying for your permanent visa - i.e. the second one you go for after two years that says you can stay here indefinately. Anyway you get sent this fairly hefty book entitled: [b:467137c0b8]Life in the United Kingdom - A Journey to Citizenship[/b:467137c0b8], which you have to learn and pass a test on. Obviously most of the stuff couldn't be answered by 90% of actuall British people, born and bread... I don't think it's too bad an idea actually, but believe it's more the sort of thing that should have been implemented years and years ago when it wouldn't have been controversial in the least. Instead it's been unveiled in typical UK government knee-jerk style at a time when it's going to piss loads of people off, making them feel like potential terrorists, enemies of the state if they don't know when Saint David's Day is or how the House of Lords operates - neither of which I know myself off the top of my head. Actually I didn't mean to write this much, I was just going to say that our world is turning into a Robert Heinlein novel more and more each day. Next they'll be asking people to join the army and serve for three years before they can be a Citizen and vote. edit: to correct, change Living to Life.
It think things like this are mostly stupid. I bet that most of the people that *are* british couldn't answer half the questions, and that the questions themselves probably aren't even that relivant to modern culture at anyrate...although, seening as i've never seen or taken such a test, I could be completely wrong.
[quote:858d446a2f="Maljonic"]...I don't think it's too bad an idea actually, but believe it's more the sort of thing that should have been implemented years and years ago when it wouldn't have been controversial in the least. Instead it's been unveiled in typical UK government knee-jerk style at a time when it's going to piss loads of people off, making them feel like potential terrorists, enemies of the state if they don't know when Saint David's Day is or how the House of Lords operates - neither of which I know myself off the top of my head.[/quote:858d446a2f] Someone did try it in the 50's. A politician called Enoch Powell, and he was branded a racist when he tried to curb the immigration numbers at that time. He actually did warn the people of impending trouble if the numbers were too great and how people would react. A government decision which has taken 50 years to develop into the situation we have today. Many people today will not voice their views but will quietly grumble to friends or family for fear of being branded a racist. Incidently, I do know St David's Day is the 1st of March and the House of Lords operates, well, badly but I have an interest in English traditions and I like pub quizzes. [quote:858d446a2f="Maljonic"]...Next they'll be asking people to join the army and serve for three years before they can be a Citizen and vote. [/quote:858d446a2f] I can say that several years in the army did me no harm. I learned a trade, had three good meals each day, had my clothes supplied and got free travel besides knowing what discipline is. The point I want to make is this. I almost decided to emigrate to the US when I was younger. If I had become a citizen I would have been expected to do my national service as a GI. I just wonder what my reactions would have been if the UK and the US had gone to war with each other. Could I have actually taken arms against my ex-countrymen as an American citizen? That would have been a major test of my allegiance. Let's hope no-one thinks of bringing that idea into parliament.
Goodness! Garner must have just missed that. Although I bet he'd have been able to answer more of the questions than I would.
They are trying to put something similar in here but such tests have a tainted history because we used to have the "White Australia Policy", this allowed that everyone coming into Australia could be tested in ANY European language. So there was some Vietnamese guy who got tested in Basque... You can see where this is going. Basically, the fear is now that if introduce another test system for immigrants how do you ensure it doesn't turn into another racial purification exercise (in the sense of screening undesirable races, not purification in terms of sticking them in ovens). And of course the PM wants the test to include a test of Australian Values, or what he considers to be Australian Values*: Mateship - where men are allowed to hug other men and men look after their male friends and everyone else be damned A Fair Go - Where everyone is allowed equal opportunities but I deserve to get it more than you. Ability to speak English - a 'functional' level of english. Anyone who's taught overseas students who have apparently passed english language exams to prove they speak the language will tell you that an exam to test language ability is a crock. I'm getting all upset so I'll stop now. *I just want to lament on the advent of values gaining a capital letter, it kind of makes them exclusive and the preserve of only 'good' people (or those that have achieved the status of 'respectibility'. Everyone else, i.e., the majority can never achieve Values, although they may have mere values which aren't as desirable.
What sort of stuff does the book have anyway? Some analysis of local customs and typical reactions would be useful I guess, though that sort of analysis would probably be branded racist.
Eating Cheese Naans and curry with raisins in it. That's what being British is all about. Sorry Grace
This is the contents page of the book: [quote:68b6768e1d][b:68b6768e1d]If you would like to learn more about how to prepare for the Life in the UK Test visit www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk Preface 3 Contents 7 Introduction 9[/b:68b6768e1d] [b:68b6768e1d]1. The making of the United Kingdom[/b:68b6768e1d] What's in a name? - 17 Early Britain 18 The Middle Ages 20 The Early Modern Period 23 Stability and the growth of Empire 29 The twentieth century 36 Politics in Britain since 1945 38 [b:68b6768e1d]2. A changing society[/b:68b6768e1d] Migration to Britain 43 The changing role of women 44 Children, family and young people 45 [b:68b6768e1d]3. Britain today: a profile[/b:68b6768e1d] Population 48 Religion and tolerance 50 The regions of Britain 51 Customs and traditions 52 [b:68b6768e1d]4. How Britain is governed[/b:68b6768e1d] The working system 57 The British constitution 58 The formal institutions 60 Devolved administration 67 Britain in Europe and the world 70 The ordinary citizen 73 [b:68b6768e1d]5. Everyday needs[/b:68b6768e1d] Housing 75 Services in and for the home 81 Money and credit 8 5 Health 88 Education 94 Leisure 99 Travel and transport 103 Identity documents 106 [b:68b6768e1d]6. Employment[/b:68b6768e1d] Looking for work 108 Equal rights and discrimination 111 At work 112 Expecting a baby 117 Working for yourself 118 Children at work 118 [b:68b6768e1d]7. Sources of help and information[/b:68b6768e1d] Help for refugees and newcomers 120 Public Libraries 121 Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) 122 The Police Service - 123 Other sources of information 124 [b:68b6768e1d]8. Knowing the law[/b:68b6768e1d] The rights and duties of a citizen 128 Human rights 132 Marriage and divorce 134 Children 137 Consumer protection 139 Criminal Courts 142 Civil Courts 143 Legal advice and aid 143 [/quote:68b6768e1d] I think one only needs to learn 2, 3 and 4 though to get an indefinite visa.
I think "Religion and Tolerance" is the only important one in the governments eyes, the rest are probably just a smoke screen - extra words to slot the real message into.
[quote:27ca6e81c3="Buzzfloyd"]Goodness! Garner must have just missed that. [/quote:27ca6e81c3] Lucky bastard. Maljonic hasn't mentioned the money issue involved. It costs, I think £350-£500 to apply for your leave to stay in the UK, depending on whether you apply by post or in person. If you don't pass the test, you have to apply to renew your temporary leave (£350-£500), then take the test again before [i:27ca6e81c3]that[/i:27ca6e81c3] leave expires. Every time you reapply for leave, until you pass the test you have to pay another fee. The when you finally pass the test and apply for your permanent leave, you have to pay a fee again. There is also a requirement that you have to be able to read and write English up to ESOL Level 3 (Buzzfloyd, do you know what that is?) The test is written at that level of English, so if you don't know English well enough, you can't pass the test. Based on my experience of learning a foreign language in school, and looking at the level of difficulty of the book, it seems to me that it would take some time for someone who didn't speak English very well to become proficient enough to do well enough on the test. (They are supposed to take an ESOL class or classes till they get up to speed.) This means that they will have to renew their temporary leave until they finish their ESOL class, which means they will have to pay an additional fee. Someone who doesn't speak English well probably doesn't have a very high-paying job in the first place, so they are more likely to have trouble finding the money to pay the fee(s). Another thing - the government wants to change the fee to apply for citizenship so that instead of it being based on how much it costs to process the application, it's based on "The Value of British Citizenship". Meaning that they would be able to price poor people out of citizenship.
we had to pay a few rather sizable bribes - i mean 'application fees' for my visas, but yeah I got the 'indefinite leave to remain' without a test. thank christ. on coming back from the netherlands, i went through the uk nationals passport line like i usually do when returning from overseas. in the past, this has allowed me to skip a massive queue and not caused any problems because i was traveling with a UK national and/or currently a UK resident. (as it so happens, this time the queue would have been a lot shorter if i'd gone through the line for non-UK nationals/non-EU member countries line, but ah well). this time, as before, there was no issue with me being in the wrong queue, but the woman at passport control asked if i'd filled out my entry card. the sort of thing grace has to fill out when going to the states, it turned out. not only had i not filled one out, but hadn't even been told i needed to by the airline staff. i assume that because the flight originated in the netherlands, the assumption was that everyone would be an EU citizen. ah well. so i held up a queue for five minutes while i tried to remember how to write in block capitols. and, on a totally unrelated side note, that flight back was full of groups of young men, aged 18-26, all of whom looked horribly hungover or otherwise worse for wear, and most of whom seemed rapturously grateful for the in-flight serving of snacks. tsk.
That language level 3 thing is often a minimum requirement for enrolling on college courses too by the way. A lot of people move to the UK and take a language course first, to get the qualification, so they can then enrol on the college course they came to do in the first place.
Jesus Christ, I wouldn't know half the stuff even in the compulsory sections! Marcia, I think the amount of money they ask for to apply for visas is shocking. Our finances still haven't recovered from the series of fees we had to pay. ESOL 3 is actually not too bad, I think. That is short hand for 'Entry Level 3', which is equivalent to the EFL 'Intermediate' level. This is two levels below GCSE standard (the exam English students take at age 16). At Intermediate level, students are not fully fluent but can hold basic conversations using several tenses. If you'd been here long enough to take the test, and you'd been having English lessons in that time, you should have no trouble.
[quote:4ff0c96ad0="Buzzfloyd"] If you'd been here long enough to take the test, and you'd been having English lessons in that time, you should have no trouble.[/quote:4ff0c96ad0] But they announced the requirement in the beginning of December 2006. And it applies to everyone who applies for indefinite leave starting April 2007. So if you hadn't been having English lessons, because you didn't think you needed them, that gives you just four months to learn the language up to the required level. Or else renew your old visa and pay an additional fee. I wouldn't mind so much if they phased it in slowly after announcing it, so that it didn't apply until people went for their indefinite leave a year or two later. Giving people enough time to learn what they need to learn. By the way, the BBC has some sample questions on their website.
[quote:a48df4ea17="Marcia"]I wouldn't mind so much if they phased it in slowly after announcing it, so that it didn't apply until people went for their indefinite leave a year or two later. Giving people enough time to learn what they need to learn.[/quote:a48df4ea17] Right. It seems to have been very badly handled - just a knee jerk response to the various crises that the Ministry have gone through recently. Edit: I got 7 out of 14 right on that test. The other half of me must be Martian.
