refused ESOL with citizenship

Hello

I hope this is the right place to post this.

My wife and I were together for 7 years prior to her application for a settlement visa last year, which was granted, and she arrived in the UK in January. Due to her limited English skills, we were advised that the best route to obtaining ILR was to enrol on a ESOL course with citizenship materials, which she has applied for, and was due to start in September.

However, today she went for an interview for a short summer school course at the same college (Leeds City College) and after checking her passport/visa she was refused entry to that, and was also told she would not be allowed to start the ESOL course in September, unless she paid overseas student fees, which are prohibitively expensive. She was told that under current regulations she must be resident in the UK for 1 year before she can enrol on the course, which means waiting until next September which in turn means that her visa will expire before the course is completed.

Can anyone confirm is this is correct, and if so is there any link to more information about this ? It seems quite odd to me.

Thanks
SD

Unfortunately it sounds correct. Perhaps look around for a cheaper course. Overstaying is not a good idea.

See: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/info_s ... provisions

Where abouts in west Yorkshire do you live?

batleykhan wrote:Where abouts in west Yorkshire do you live?

Hi, we live in Leeds....

Greenie wrote:Unfortunately it sounds correct. Perhaps look around for a cheaper course. Overstaying is not a good idea.

See: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/info_s ... provisions

Thanks for your help, and the link....

If she hasn't completed an ESOL course before her visa expires she will need to apply for an extension on form FLR(M). However, as ridiculous as this may seem, she will have to pass the new A1 English test before submitting the FLR application. It's a very basic level of spoken English, which no doubt by that time she will have reached if she has a problem completing an ESOL course in time.
One important point to bear in mind, you need to ensure that the ESOL course provider is on the approved UKBA list.
We had the same problem by the way and my husband had to pay the full study fees. At that time the Home Office had only just introduced the Citizens content for ESOL and few colleges were offering the course.

Give the UK Learning Center in Batley West Yorkshire a ring on 01924 432121. They may do the courses that you will need to apply for ILR.

Again you will have to pay but I think you will find their prices are reasonable compared to mainstream colleges etc.

This place is about 10 miles away from you.

Thank for the relpies.