Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the length of time an English language test pass is valid for a visa application, in the context of passport application delays.

We do not have any current plans to extend the length of time for which a Secure English Language Test (SELT) result is valid for the purpose of a visa application. It is important that people show they have the level of English required to work, study and integrate in the UK. An accurate and reliable SELT process ensures that people coming to work and study have the skills they need to complete the activity they are coming to the UK to undertake. Applicants can rely on the test result for 2 years from the date of the test, and can choose when they take the test before making their visa application.

As part of our work to simplify the immigration rules, we have extended the ways an applicant can prove their English language ability other than providing a valid SELT certificate. They can now meet the language requirement by:

• Having a GCSE, A Level, Scottish National Qualification level 4 or 5, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher in English, gained through study at a UK school that they began when they were under 18;
• Having a degree taught or researched in English;
• Their education provider self-assessing their English ability if they are applying for a student visa.

Applicants also now only have to prove their language ability once, and can rely on having met the requirement in a previous visa application for future applications.