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The Home Office has recently released guidance notes concerning the new requirement for naturalisation applicants to provide evidence of sufficient knowledge of the English language when making an application for citizenship.
The guidance notes cover the ways people can show that their English skills reaches the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Entry 3 level.
The Irish government released figures earlier this month that show that there has been a sharp rise in the number of workers from new EU member states seeking work in Ireland since 1 May 2004.
The government report shows that almost 23,000 people from the new member states have come to Ireland to seek employment in the past three months since enlargement.
This is approximately ten times the number of work permits issued to people from the same ten countries from January to April of this year.
The IND has announced that from 23 August anyone applying for entry clearance to the UK as a Minister of Religion will need to provide evidence that they speak English.
If it is not clear from an entry clearance application that the individual certainly speaks English, applicants will have to provide an IELTS certificate showing that they have achieved a band score of at least 4 in spoken English. The certificate should not be more than two years old at the date of making the entry clearance application.
Information about cases currently under consideration by the UK Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Directorate as of Aug. 16, 2004:Category:
Leave to Remain applications sent to ATOS Cannock before July 15, 2004, the IND is currently working on cases received May 25, 2004Leave to Remain applications sent to ATOS Cannock after July 15, 2004, the IND is currently working on cases received July 23, 2004Work Permit Applications, the IND is working on cases received Aug. 04, 2004Highly Skilled Migrant Program, the IND is working on cases received Mar. 31, 2004
IND designates groups capable of determining English proficiency
The UK’s Secretary of State on Aug. 13, 2004, designated the following persons as competent to determine that an applicant has sufficient knowledge of English for the purposes of naturalization, when that applicant has produced an educational qualification other than an ESOL Entry 3 Certificate as described in the DfES "Adult ESOL core curriculum". A teacher will be a designated person if he or she meets the following criteria:
Language Teachers with one of the following qualifications:
US State Department announces a one-year extension for Biometric Passport Issuance by Visa Waiver Program Countries
On Aug. 09, United States President George Bush extended the deadline by one year, to Oct. 26, 2005, by which countries must begin issuing new passports that are biometrically enabled. This extension was necessary to avoid potential disruption of international travel and to provide the international community adequate time to develop viable programs for producing more secure, biometrically enabled passport, the US State Department said in a statement.