New UK immigrant tests for foreign nationals to focus on 'Britishness'

London, July 2 (ANI): British Home Secretary Theresa May is reportedly planning changes to a test taken by foreign nationals who wish to become British citizens of the country.

According to The BBC, the revised version of the test 'Life in the United Kingdom' will focus on British history and achievements and less on the practicalities of daily life in the country.

Immigrants will also have to learn the first verse of the country's national anthem before they can be eligible to become UK citizens.

May is understood to have scrapped sections of the test, which dealt with claiming benefits and the Human Rights Act.

"Putting our culture and history at the heart of the citizenship test will help ensure those permanently settling can understand British life allowing them to properly integrate into our society," A Home Office spokesperson said.

Alp Mehmet, vice chairman of the Migration Watch think tank, welcomed the planned changes.

However, Habib Mirza, who runs citizenship courses at BSGS College, in Whitechapel, East London, said proposed changes would represent 'a massive barrier for anybody who wants to settle down in the United Kingdom, the vast majority of whom cannot speak English anyway'.

He said that asking people from non-Christian backgrounds to learn the National Anthem 'might be against their religious beliefs, it might be against their personal beliefs' and it was therefore 'unfair'. (ANI)