Language requirements for migrants are about to get tougher, as the Home Office insists that they must have A-level standard English.
Labour’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said it was “unacceptable” for foreign workers to come to the UK without good English – claiming they were “unable” to integrate properly.
However, migrant charities say the new visa rules “reinforce false stereotypes” – arguing that the huge majority of people coming to Britain to work already have good English.
Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said it was “bitterly disappointing” to see Labour recycling Reform UK’s rhetoric on migrants failing to integrate.
The charity leader said “tough talk based on bad data” was the last the country needed.
What are the new A-level language rules?
The tougher language requirements will be imposed on those applying for skilled worker visas, graduates coming in under the high-potential individual (HPI) visa, and scale-up visas for those working for fast-growing UK businesses.
They will all need to reach B2 standard of English, instead of the current B1 standard. While the B1 standard is equivalent to GCSE-level English, the B2 standard is equivalent to school students completing A-levels.
The B2 standard requires migrants to express themselves “fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is making changes as part of an immigration white paper (Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)Will it reduce migrant numbers?
The language change is part of a crackdown aimed at cutting net migration, as Labour tries to win back voters who have switched to Reform UK by persuading them that they have a handle on numbers coming into the UK.
However, the Government’s own assessment suggests the higher English standard rule won’t make much difference to numbers coming to the UK.
Just over 60,000 of the relevant visas – skilled worker, HPI and scale-up visas – were issued in the year to June 2025, according to Migration Observatory analysis of official statistics.
However, the toughening of English language requirements would see only 900 of those visas cut in 2026/27, according to estimates in the Government’s own impact assessment.
Another 1,200 dependents, the relatives of the main applicants, are expected to be turned away as a result of the policy. So just 2,100 migrants in all.
What do we know about migrants’ English skills?
Official figures also throw doubt over the claim that too many people are coming to the UK with poor English.
The Home Office’s own May 2025 survey of skilled visa workers living in the UK suggests that a large majority speak English to a good standard.
It found that 69 per cent of migrants with skilled worker visas say they could already speak English very well before coming to the UK.
And more than eight in ten (82 per cent) skilled migrants said that they speak English very well now – suggesting their English improves after living and working in the country.
Dr Vicol said most migrant workers “are already fluent in English” and that moving the goalposts “will simply make migrants feel less welcome, and reinforce false stereotypes”.
Immigration lawyer Afsana Akhtar also believes that insisting on an A-level standard is unfair. She told the BBC that she thought “even many people in the UK probably wouldn’t be able to pass English A-level”.
Some 18 per cent of people in England aged 16 to 65, around 6.6 million people, have very poor literacy skills, according to the National Literacy Trust.
Is poor English linked to low-skilled jobs?
The Government says there is an economic argument for insisting on better English skills. It wants migrants to have better English “so they can integrate into life in this country by getting a job or improving their prospects at work”.
There is evidence showing migrants who struggle with English are more likely to be unemployed, inactive or stuck in low-skilled jobs.
Some 69 per cent of migrants who were proficient in English were employed, according to an analysis of Census data by Oxford University’s Migration Observatory.
But only 50 per cent of those who could not speak English well or at all were employed. Some 46 per cent were unemployed or inactive.
Only 9 per cent of migrants who speak English as their main language work in low-skill roles, compared to 40 per cent of migrants who cannot speak English well or at all.
Ben Brindle, researcher at the Migration Observatory, told The i Paper that there was a “trade-off” between ensuring migrants speak good enough English to integrate, and allowing UK employers to recruit enough workers.
“There is a link between better language skills and better economic outcomes. Better language skills also reduce the risk migrants will be exploited,” the expert added.
Mahmood said: “It is unacceptable for migrants to come here without learning our language, unable to contribute to our national life.”
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