Visas: Kenya

Home Office written question – answered at on 26 April 2022.

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Photo of Richard Fuller Richard Fuller Conservative, North East Bedfordshire

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the English language requirement for applications for student visas from Kenya; and whether she has plans to review that requirement for those applicants.

Photo of Kevin Foster Kevin Foster The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

Kenya is not included on the Majority English Speaking Country (MESC) for immigration purposes, so applicants from Kenya must meet the English language requirement in another way.

Student applicants are currently required to show a B1 or B2 competency level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, depending on their course of study. There are several ways they can prove this:

  • having shown they meet the requirement in a previous immigration application; or
  • passing a Secure English Language Test at an approved test centre; or
  • holding a degree-level qualification which was taught in English; or
  • having their chosen university or other Higher Educational Institution self-certify their level of English ability; or
  • having a GCSE, A-level, Scottish National Qualification at level 4 or 5 or, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher, in English following education at a UK school begun when they were under-18.

Our assessment is these options provide an appropriate means for applicants for student visas from Kenya to meet the English language requirement.

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