Some migrants entering the UK will need to speak English up to A-level standard as part of tighter new rules that the government is due to publish.
The reform, which comes into force on 8 January 2026, will affect some graduates and applicants for skilled worker or scale-up visas, which are for people working for fast-growing businesses.
The new rules form part of wider proposals to lower levels of immigration to the UK outlined in a white paper in May.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "If you're coming to this country, you're going to have to learn our language and do your share."
"This country has always accepted people who come to this country and contribute," Mahmood said.
"But it's unacceptable that migrants arrive here without learning our language, and having nothing to offer to our national life."
Test-takers will be interviewed in person on their speaking, listening, reading and writing at Home Office-approved test providers, and their results verified as part of the application for a visa.
Applicants for the skilled worker, scale-up and high potential individual (HPI) visas will be required to reach the B2 level – a higher level than the current B1 level, the equivalent of GCSE.
To migrate to the UK on the skilled worker visa, migrants must work for an employer who is approved by the government and earn a minimum of £41,700 per year, or the "going rate" for their category of work, whichever is greater.
The scale-up visa is for migrants who are arriving to work for a fast-growing UK business. Migrants are able to apply for a high-potential individual visa if they have achieved a qualification at a top global university in the past five years.
According to the British Council, which provides English language lessons, students who pass at B2 level can "understand the main ideas of complex texts on concrete or abstract topics."
They can get by in "fluently and spontaneously" and communicate freely with other English speakers. They can also produce "clear, detailed text on a wide variety of topics and explain a complex viewpoint".
Other provisions for English language for other visa types and family dependants will be introduced in due course, Home Office Minister Mike Tapp told Parliament on Tuesday.
The government's previous prime minister had stated that the changes the white paper set out would make the UK's immigration system "controlled, selective and fair".
Its estimates are that the measures will cut numbers arriving in the UK by as much as 100,000 a year.
Net migration to the UK – number of total permanent arrivals minus number of total permanent leavers – fell to 431,000 in 2024, which was almost 50% lower than the total for 2023, when it reached an all-time high of 906,000.
Dr Madeleine Sumption, the director of the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory, said the government faced a "trade-off" between "getting migrants to have good English and enabling employers to bring in workers who are likely to make a contribution to the economy."
The majority of graduate jobs already require higher-level language skills than A-level, she said.
The new language requirements will have "more impact in mid-skilled jobs with technical and manual skills where employers sometimes don't require high standards of language proficiency."
Migration lawyer Afsana Akhtar told BBC News that she felt it was "unfair" the migrants were being asked to achieve such a high standard of English "because even a lot of people in the UK probably wouldn't pass English A-level.".
"This would keep out even skilled workers who want to come and contribute to our British economy," she said.
"The level of GCSE is sufficient – and then when they get here, [and] settle into England and the English way of life, their English will automatically improve."
Among the other measures in the white paper are cutting the amount of time international students can spend in the UK seeking a graduate job following the end of their course from two years to 18 months, starting in January 2027.
Students will also need to meet higher financial requirements, raised to £1,171 per month outside the capital (from £1,136) for a maximum of nine months.
The Global Talent visa for exceptional tech, arts and academia professionals has also been expanded to include winners of more high-profile awards.
Source: BBC