We’ll see what the courts decide. But I’m not against having to pass a language test, but I do think it should be free of charge.
It’s not clear from the article who this applies to. I’m an immigrant but I’ve never heard of any integration courses. Is it for people gaining Belgian citizenship? I had to prove that I had integrated economically and socially/linguistically but this was done via my employment history and studies.
Those integration tests are rarely, if ever, intended to promote integration and are just symbolic measures to pander to anti-migration voters. Anyone moderately well-off enough can buy their way through the answers or have their employer provide the necessary documents. The only people hindered by it are the ones who can’t pay the integration classes/tests.
If you are fine by discriminating against financially unstable or disadvantaged applicants (Ukrainian refugees, illiterate women from fundamentalist countries) and don’t care about integration at all then this is the way to go. But don’t think for a second that this improves “integration” in an EU where golden passports exist and anyone middle class or above can just get internships or study here without ever paying for those Flemish government tests and passing them.
I personally find it, very bad, that a person living in this country for several years doesnt speak one out of 3 languages: dutch, french or English.
And its a big problem, hampering their integration.
Newcomers need time to (ironically) integrate before they can pay fucking 360€ just for a largely useless course, so yes, good.
Bruh… We should have a greencard system ontop of this!
For real, we allow way too many people to come live in Belgium, our economy cannot handle this.
Ontop of that there are so many refugee kids and parents that don’t even speak English. And they are just dropped at flemish schools etc. Imagine being a teacher in this situation (teacher jobs are already hard enough as is).
Restrictions against immigration are needed, whether we like it or not.
6 comments
We’ll see what the courts decide. But I’m not against having to pass a language test, but I do think it should be free of charge.
It’s not clear from the article who this applies to. I’m an immigrant but I’ve never heard of any integration courses. Is it for people gaining Belgian citizenship? I had to prove that I had integrated economically and socially/linguistically but this was done via my employment history and studies.
Those integration tests are rarely, if ever, intended to promote integration and are just symbolic measures to pander to anti-migration voters. Anyone moderately well-off enough can buy their way through the answers or have their employer provide the necessary documents. The only people hindered by it are the ones who can’t pay the integration classes/tests.
If you are fine by discriminating against financially unstable or disadvantaged applicants (Ukrainian refugees, illiterate women from fundamentalist countries) and don’t care about integration at all then this is the way to go. But don’t think for a second that this improves “integration” in an EU where golden passports exist and anyone middle class or above can just get internships or study here without ever paying for those Flemish government tests and passing them.
I personally find it, very bad, that a person living in this country for several years doesnt speak one out of 3 languages: dutch, french or English.
And its a big problem, hampering their integration.
Newcomers need time to (ironically) integrate before they can pay fucking 360€ just for a largely useless course, so yes, good.
Bruh… We should have a greencard system ontop of this!
For real, we allow way too many people to come live in Belgium, our economy cannot handle this.
Ontop of that there are so many refugee kids and parents that don’t even speak English. And they are just dropped at flemish schools etc. Imagine being a teacher in this situation (teacher jobs are already hard enough as is).
Restrictions against immigration are needed, whether we like it or not.