Australia asks foreign spouses to clear basic English test; critics call it 'racist'

A lot is being said about a proposed Australian law that is about immigration. Australia wants foreign spouses of existing residents to know basic English andwants spouses to pass an English test when applying for immigration to Australia.

This requirement has not been approved by the Parliament yet. If it gets the nod, it will be applicable from mid 2021. However, critics say the move is racist andhas been designed to keep non-westerners out of Australia.

The other side of this debate is that if you were relocating to a country to join your spouse or family and want to beemployable or even survive, you might needa functional knowledge of the local language — may be just enough to say a hello or a thank you or seek help.

What Australia is asking foris not for an applicant to write a Shakespearean proseor Keatsian poetry; it is asking for functional and beginner's level English.

If Australia goes ahead with the law, it will not be an exception.

In Germany, foreign nationals living there are expected to demonstrate competency in the German language. Their government website clearly states that to be able to live in Germany, you will need to know German.

You need to take a language test. "To be allowed to immigrate to Germany, you will need to enter the exams and pass them up to either a1 or b1," the official website reads.

If a child is seeking immigration to unite with his or her parents, Germany expects "for children over 16 years old, there must be suffiecient proof of German language proficiency and the ability to adapt and integrate".

As for spouses, "they will need to have at least an a1 German proficiency to qualify".

Similarly inSwitzerland, ifa family member applies for Swiss residence perimit, the authorities may ask them to sign a cultural intergration agreement. The applicants may be asked to show a certain level of language skill.

These countries are not looking for proficiency, but just functional knowledge of a lanauge.

The UK spouse visa requirement includesa minimum English language proficiency of CEFR level A1. CEFR stands for the Common European Framework of References for language.

In case you are wondering, there is no such language requirement in India. If someone wants to migrate to India, there is no expectation for him or her to have a functional knowledge of Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, or any of the official langauges.

Our question is thatis it too much to ask for to learn basics of a language? It takes 80 to 100 hours of classes and a couple of tests to clear a beginner level foreign language test. Most of these lessons are now available online, so nobody needs to even pay for the classes.

Learning a new language will help the applicant adjust to the new country, be functional, if not employable.

Australia too is thinking on the same lines. It says there were about one million people living in Australia with poor or no English skill and this has limited their work and social skills.

So Canberra wants applicants to take 500 hours of English class which are free of cost. Australia is not saying that if you do not know English, you cannot visit your spouse. It says you can still enter the country and stay there temporarily.

It is only if you want to stay in Australia permanently that you would need to learn English, andyou can do that while staying in Australia.