English test challenge fails

A High Court judge dismissed a challenge yesterday to a new rule requiring people to be able to speak English before coming to the UK to live with their spouse.

The "pre-entry" English test announced by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, in June 2010 did not interfere with the human rights of three couples, Mr Justice Beatson said.

In his judgment, at the High Court in Birmingham, he said the new requirement was not a disproportionate interference with family life. The claimants' lawyers had argued that the rule contravened the right to a family life and the right to marry under the European Convention on Human Rights.