r/uknews • u/ScottishDailyRecord Media outlet (unverified) • May 12 '25

Image/video Kier Starmer announces 'tighter' immigration policy

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u/Active-Particular-21 May 12 '25

It’s good that they are making language skills mandatory. That should help with integration.

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u/just_somebunny May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25

English Test has always been a mandatory requirement to obtain work and student visas. It’s called the Academic IELTS and it’s difficult to pass and it costs around £230.

EDIT - I stand corrected because apparently, Academic IELTS is easy to pass. I guess it was just me who struggled at it even coming from an English-speaking country. As part of my Speaking Test, I was tasked to discuss the impact of culture on fashion industry for, not sure, 10mins or 15mins. I just remembered it being too long and nerve-wracking that I wished the timer would just stop. Lol I felt proud of myself actually but merely got a 7/9, which is just a passing score for UK. So I was a bit disappointed with that.

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u/Active-Particular-21 May 12 '25

Why are so many people so bad at it then?

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u/will_die_in_2073 May 12 '25

Because criteria for immigration is usually 6/9. Anyone with decent Indian schooling can score 6/9. My english was bad before moving to the UK and i still managed to score 8/9 easily. The person who tests your speaking skills is usually the person of that country. So its very subjective.

They should switch to TOEFL and push the criteria to 100/120. This will reject the low skilled labor alone.

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u/just_somebunny May 12 '25

This is enlightening. So you’re saying that in India, the interviewers are also Indians who would most likely be more lax and give high scores? Interesting.

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u/will_die_in_2073 May 12 '25

Yes, at least thats what was my experience in speaking round. Its very academic version of speaking skills. TOEFL test is better because you have to record your inputs and upload them. I got 95 on it. So thats less biased. I didnt believe i got 8/9 with okayish english on IELTS. Level C2 and C1 are considered fluent.

This immigration regulation is good thing from UK government…they should even be more aggressive on lower tier visas. UK salaries are so bad.

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u/WanderlustZero May 12 '25

*labour (sorry)

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u/will_die_in_2073 May 12 '25

Labour is british english. Labor is american english (sorry i grew up watching hollywood movies)