Advice on English Language Certificate About To expire

My wife is Brazilian and has been living in England since May 2000 and working full time for the vast majority of this time she arrived on a fiancee VISA which was changed to a spouse Visa in June 2000 and an indefinite leave to remain in June 2001 , a couple of years ago she decided to try to get British Citizenship as every time we go on holiday we need to split up and she needs to go through immigration.

Although she had older Cambridge English examinations when she arrived here and could speak fluent English in 2000 let alone after 16 years working here she still needed to take another English Exam which I think is ridiculous under the circumstances, anyway she went to LILA in Liverpool and without any lessons passed the First Certificate in English at Level B2 with a pass grade of A, the certificate was awarded by Cambridge English Assessment , certificate date 27/1/2014

She then took the Life in the UK test on 23rd May 2015 as she needed to study a lot for this as this was more difficult. We decided to leave the application until the beginning of this year due to us needing passports to travel during 2015 , so today we sat down to fill in the forms.

When I checked the acceptable English Test , I didn't see FCE specifically mentioned although level B2 is mentioned so I am assuming this would suffice???

The only problem is the expiry date of 2 years will pass in 3 days time, it will be impossible for us to get everything together and checked by then. Could someone please advise if this certificate will still be accepted or will she need to do this whole thing again??

sinbad2uk wrote:My wife is Brazilian and has been living in England since May 2000 and working full time for the vast majority of this time she arrived on a fiancee VISA which was changed to a spouse Visa in June 2000 and an indefinite leave to remain in June 2001 , a couple of years ago she decided to try to get British Citizenship as every time we go on holiday we need to split up and she needs to go through immigration.

Although she had older Cambridge English examinations when she arrived here and could speak fluent English in 2000 let alone after 16 years working here she still needed to take another English Exam which I think is ridiculous under the circumstances,

...

When I checked the acceptable English Test , I didn't see FCE specifically mentioned although level B2 is mentioned so I am assuming this would suffice???

The only problem is the expiry date of 2 years will pass in 3 days time, it will be impossible for us to get everything together and checked by then. Could someone please advise if this certificate will still be accepted or will she need to do this whole thing again??

Unfortunately HO plays hard ball in this area & keeps shifting the goalposts.
The rules around proof of English have changed again, most recently last November, 2015.

See forum FAQS on this matter:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... 98118.html

Suggest read Q6 & Q8 first, if that doesn't help then see Q4.

It is still very unclear to me after reading those FAQ's,

This one states

Q6: What if my qualification (Q4) has expired?

Some qualifications on the Home Office’s list will expire after 2 years. If you’re applying for citizenship you can still use an expired test if your B1 level qualification was accepted when settling in the UK.

Well 17 years ago when my wife settled there was no requirement for an English qualification , so taking that statement above word for word someone took the test say 5 years ago as part of an application for an indefinite leave to remain visa then they would still be able to use that 5 year old certificate to apply for naturalization, but in my wifes case as she dint need a qualification at the time she wouldn't be able to use the very same much more upto date certificate because it has expired.

Pardon my ignorance but where is the logic in that??

sinbad2uk wrote:Well 17 years ago when my wife settled there was no requirement for an English qualification , so taking that statement above word for word someone took the test say 5 years ago as part of an application for an indefinite leave to remain visa then they would still be able to use that 5 year old certificate to apply for naturalization, but in my wifes case as she dint need a qualification at the time she wouldn't be able to use the very same much more upto date certificate because it has expired.

Pardon my ignorance but where is the logic in that??

This is Home Office policy we are speaking of.

Unfortunately, unless used in connection with a settlement application between 28-Oct-2013 and 11-Nov-2015, it's going to be a case of signing up to take a SELT.

Yes it is the Home Office and it stinks of incompetence, irrationality and corruption, I just looked at one of the approved tests now the Trinity GESE Grade 5 exam, and it is an absolute doddle compared to the FCE level B2 exam.

It seems that they are scrapping off the harder qualifications and making the tests easier which is penalizing those people who can speak English Fluently.

Nothing in this country or with this government surprises me anymore,

Hi guys,

I am in somewhat the same situation and would really appreciate if someone would advise me on how to proceed.

I entered the UK fulfilling the language criteria by passing IELTS Academic. It has now expired. My ILR was granted the same year (before 28th Oct) as I came as a dependant of a work permit holder. I took the LIUK test and it alone was deemed sufficient at the time for KoLL. My IELTS (though valid at the time and presented to the case official) was not taken into consideration for settlement.

And now as a spouse of a British Citizen I'm eligible to apply for citizenship/naturalisation after being resident in the UK for 3 years (in February). So the burning question is, will my expired IELTS suffice given the fact that it was taken into consideration when I first entered the UK but NOT when I applied for settlement? The UK gov website states the following on the expired qualification issue as already pointed out before in this thread.

If your qualification has run out
Some recognised test qualifications only last for 2 years. You can still use a B1 level qualification that you took more than 2 years ago in 2 situations.

Applying for citizenship

You can use a B1 level qualification that’s run out if you’re applying for citizenship and it was accepted when you settled in the UK.

Applying to settle in the UK

You can use a B1 level qualification that’s run out if you’re applying to settle in the UK and it was accepted for another UK immigration application, eg when you got permission to enter.

I read somewhere that for naturalisation the home office only looks at or verifies documents that were submitted for settlement and not when you entered the UK. Documents that were submitted when entering the UK are verified at settlement, hence the above statement by the UK gov. Can anyone confirm this? Does this mean that I have to take a pointless exam I passed with an 8.5/9.0 (and waste time, effort and £150) again? Or submitting it would be fine? Has anyone (or anyone you know) been in this situation? Please let me know.

I have an appointment with the NCS soon and would really appreciate some commentary and thoughts on this!

Many thanks.

From what we have been told my wife needs to take another pointless test as you say at £150, she has worked face to face in a bank for 16 years conversing with customers and achieved a grade A at level B2 exactly 2 years ago. She now can go and do a trinity exam which is 10 minutes chatting nonsense with an examiner which she could do in her sleep.

So my conclusion is the government and the Home Office aren't interested in how well you have mastered the English Language, but just how much money they can make out of it hence my corruption comment.

Basically they have made the test simple so many more people will feel confident in going for it

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