Immigrants from India and other non-European Union countries will be forced to learn the English language before they are allowed to enter Britain, according to new rules being introduced soon.

The move is likely to be welcomed by many in the Asian community here since it would address the anomaly of thousands of people from the Asian sub-continent living in Britain, acquiring British passports, but are unable to interact and integrate with the wider community due to lack of English language skills.

Problems of communication arise when people with no English language skills interact with government officials, post office, the National Health Service and other public services.

The government spends millions of pounds on translation services to facilitate communication with people with no English language skills. There is increasing criticism over allocating huge sums of money for translation by various public bodies.