Migrants' Rights Network: New report shows UK tougher on language testing than other countries

Tough English language tests for migrants and their families are a key tool in the UK policy box to foster integration. However a new Migration Policy Group report says that this approach is moving the UK in the wrong direction - and uses comparison with other countries to prove it...
The latest report from the Migration Policy Group (MPG), released this week, provides new ammunition for critics of the UK government’s ever-tougher approach towards English language ability among migrants.
Few people - least of all migrants themselves - would disagree that learning some English is likely to make life in the UK much easier. But the MPG report renews debate about which government policies on language ability have the best outcomes for new arrivals.
This report uses the MIPEX index to compare the UK with 32 other countries on how far its immigration policies promote migrant integration. Historically the UK has done rather well in these reports - it currently ranks 9th out of 33 countries for measures to promote integration.
But the MPG report shows that comparisons with other countries may be increasingly unfavourable to the UK. It finds that the UK government’s approach to English language ability for migrants in particular is becoming tougher than in any other English-speaking country– and many other EU countries too – which are surveyed under MIPEX.
Read more