U.K. citizenship test: Too hard for most Britons

The fact that few Britons could pass the test has again raised criticism that the bar is set too high.

from the January 31, 2008 edition

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More-liberal voices are aghast that politicians refuse to emphasize the benefits of immigration. The government's figures show that migration added £6 billion (about $12 billion) to economic growth last year, that migrants are more productive than native workers, and that migrants create jobs as well as fill vacancies.

"Public concerns about immigration seem relentless," says Danny Sriskandarajah, a migration expert with the London-based Institute for Public Policy Research. "We've had high immigration, and with it, high public anxiety about immigration. The government is looking for ways to reduce the overall numbers of people coming to the UK, and as they can't control EU arrivals in any meaningful way, they have turned their attention to non-EU nations."

The citizenship test was introduced just over two years ago as a tool to encourage greater integration among those who have been granted immigration rights.

Controversial in several countries

The idea has proven controversial in several countries, including the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, and in Germany, attracting criticism both for esoteric questions and, in some places, for leading questions about an applicant's cultural sensitivities. A furor in Germany in 2006 over questions proposed by two states resulted in new national citizenship standards.

Australia's test came under fire earlier this month when it emerged that 20 percent of applicants were failing. Critics said it should be about knowledge and culture, about the political system and everyday life – not, in the words of one detractor, "about what happened 20 years ago in some cricket match."

But one of the architects of the British citizenship tests, Sir Bernard Crick, who drew up the booklet that applicants are supposed to study in preparation, defended the idea of the citizenship test, saying that it was a worthwhile exercise in educating people about the new country they find themselves in.

"At least you know they are learning some essential information about the nature of the UK – there are local councils, local MPs, and the police are by and large friendly," he says. "A lot of people come from countries where you wouldn't even go near the police."

He added that it was also useful to assess assimilation in an age when the self-segregation of communities has become a major concern.

"You don't want to issue passports promiscuously if you think people are living simply within their own minority communities and have no knowledge of the wider range of communities," Sir Bernard says.

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