Immigration Minister Damian Green and UK Border Agency Chief Executive Lin Homer undertook to work with English UK and its members to look for alternative solutions to maintaining the controversial language requirement for visa-national students on English language courses.

Further to the changes announced by the UKBA last week, please find the main points that concern member centres and the ELT industry. Stephen Lloyd MP and Julian Huppert MP have also tabled an EDM, which we would urge you to ask your MP to sign if they are allowed to.

Penningtons Solicitors LLP, the law firm acting on behalf of English UK at the recent judicial review, has produced a news release about the UKBA's decision to raise the English language course level back to B1 by a statement of changes.

Click here to read their news release in full.

English UK today said it was “very disappointed” at the decision by the UK Border Agency to again raise the level of English proficiency required for UK student visas.

As of July 23, students below degree level must again prove that they have reached level B1, which is just below A Level standard. This includes students who want to learn English in the UK, a situation which English UK Chief Executive Tony Millns has described as “clearly absurd”.

The last date that the current (white) CRB forms can be accepted by the CRB was 20th July 2010. The new (purple) application forms will be accepted from 26th July 2010.

If you would like to order some of the new style forms please contact Kathryn (info@englishuk.com) specifying how many forms you would like. Please note that due to high demand there may be a waiting list for the new forms.