Immigration

Amendments were made to para 281 of the Immigration Rules HC 395 which required foreign spouses and partners of British citizens or persons settled in the UK applying for leave to enter the UK with a view to settlement, to produce a test certificate of knowledge of the English language to a prescribed standard.

Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights did not confer a right to marry in the UK where one party to the proposed marriage was abroad and had no right to enter the UK and the rule did not interfere with the rights of persons under Art 12 of the Convention.

The aims of the rule, to promote integration and to protect public services, were legitimate aims within Art 8(2) of the Convention and the fact that it might, in an individual case, be possible to argue that the operation of the exceptions in