UK: New immigration policy requirements are too BT, Chinese chefs struggle with English language requirements

According to the British "British China Times" report, since April 6, the changes in the new immigration policy have caused quite a stir in the Chinese community. Various new policies have not only tightened the visa requirements for Chinese living in the UK, but also affected the The interests of the Chinese community in Britain. Among them, the Chinese restaurant industry has been most affected. Although technical chefs remain on the shortage list, they face more stringent recruitment requirements. They must have at least five years of work experience. The minimum salary of British employers must reach ￥28,260, and their English ability must reach about IELTS 5.0. The short-term improvement of English proficiency seems to be an impossible task for many chefs.

The English threshold suddenly rises and there is no transition period

One of the series of immigration policy changes introduced on April 6 is that the English proficiency requirements for work visa (Tier 2) applicants have changed from The A1 level will be raised to B1 level, and it will be implemented immediately without a transition period from the time the regulations are promulgated. On June 3, a group of people who were concerned about the government’s tightening of English proficiency requirements held a press conference in London’s Chinatown to argue that raising the Tier 2 English threshold would harm the interests of the Chinese restaurant industry. They hoped to solicit the opinions of the Chinese community and discuss it at the Immigration Advisory Committee meeting on June 10. proposed in. They believe that the revision of English proficiency will have an impact on Chinese restaurant workers as well as their families and employers. They hope to convey the voice of the Chinese community through the Immigration Advisory Committee and call on existing work visas and new applicants overseas to pay attention to the new English proficiency level. Changes to B1.

One of the initiators of the press conference, General Manager Wei Qiling of the Academy of Oriental Cuisine, explained to reporters the difference between the English B1 requirements and the A1 requirements: B1 level The English test is much more complicated than the A1 level. In the A1 level, candidates are only required to answer some basic English sentence patterns, such as being able to clearly state the address when asking for directions; for example, being able to understand basic conversations is enough. In writing, only About 30 words are required. The B1 level requires complex English sentence structures, and the writing requires situational conversations and hundreds of words. The overall difficulty level is almost equivalent to the IELTS (ELTS) 5.0 level. This is equivalent to the basic requirements for overseas students in the UK, which is actually unrealistic for Chinese food chefs. ?

Principal Wei Guiling of the British Academy of Oriental Cuisine told reporters, "We have received calls from some Chinese restaurant employers complaining that the government has raised the English proficiency requirements for Tier 2 applicants. , making it harder for them to recruit professional chefs. Principal Wei said: "These chefs work long hours every day and don't have much time to learn English." For many people, reaching the A1 level is already very difficult, let alone reaching the B1 level. ?

Lawyer Zhang Peifen of Zhang Ye Law Firm pointed out at the press conference that many cases have shown that this new policy has caused great difficulties to applicants’ work visa applications for two months. New applicants and Those who renew their visas need to improve their English proficiency in the short term according to this new policy. Only those applicants who have already obtained a Tier 2 visa and are renewing their Tier 2 visa for the same job are exempt from taking the English test again. All other applicants need to take the English test again and reach B1 level before they can be approved for a British visa. ?

How can Chinese chefs improve their English?

To this end, the reporter visited some large Chinese restaurants and Chinese catering groups in the UK to listen to the opinions of Chinese food practitioners. The person in charge of the British Hanchao Catering Group told reporters that at present, the chefs in several branches of the group have not yet faced such problems. Most of the chefs are already permanent residents or have been naturalized. At work, most of the chefs Cooking does not require direct use of English. ?I don’t think there is any requirement for the chef’s English proficiency. As long as he can cook authentic dishes, he is considered responsible. Just like some Western-style chefs in European and American countries do not need to learn to speak the local language to find jobs in Asian countries such as China and Japan. As long as the Western-style food is authentic, they can attract customers and they are competent chefs.

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Johnny, the manager of the Newcastle All-You-Can-Eat Athens Buffet Restaurant, told reporters: The chefs only work in the kitchen, and they communicate with each other in Chinese, which is different from the restaurant floor. They don’t need to face customers directly, and they don’t need to speak English. If they need to purchase condiments and sauces, as long as they speak Chinese, we will naturally have professionals to help with the purchase, and there is no need for the chef to buy them directly. ?

Mr. Zhang, the person in charge of Bashu Renjia, a restaurant specializing in Sichuan cuisine, also said that most of the Sichuan cuisine chefs are professional chefs from mainland China. When recruiting chefs, they mainly look at his professional skills. Authentic or not, there are no special requirements for English.

Manager Ye of London’s Top Restaurant told reporters, “Although chefs do not need to use English at work, they still need to communicate with people in daily life to deal with daily matters such as banking, transportation, etc. All need to use basic English. He believes that mastering basic English is necessary. ?

Generally speaking, it is generally believed that chefs do not need to use English in actual work, because of the particularity of chefs as a technical type of work and the singularity of the working environment in the kitchen. However, English is needed in daily life to communicate and integrate with mainstream society, and it does not require such a high level of English. Most restaurant managers believe that the British government's decision to raise Tier 2 English proficiency levels to the B1 level is too harsh and unnecessary for Chinese chefs. This will intensify the chef shortage in Chinese restaurants. It will have a negative impact on the future of Chinese food. ?

The English problem is getting worse? There is a shortage of chefs.

During the interview, the reporter also learned that the English proficiency requirements for work visas have been tightened for these large Chinese restaurants. The impact is relatively small. They said that the chefs hired are all experienced chefs who came to the UK 10 years ago. At that time, there were no stringent English requirements for chef visas. Therefore, the New Deal had less impact on them. Most of those affected by this policy are Chinese food employers who are opening new restaurants and preparing to recruit new chefs or hiring chefs from overseas. In the long run, the development of Chinese food in the UK will be restricted by this.

Although for Chinese chefs, improving their English proficiency will undoubtedly bring convenience to life in the UK, allowing them to better integrate into mainstream society. However, this move will undoubtedly make things worse for the British Chinese restaurant industry, which is already struggling. At present, Chinese chefs have become the target of competition for major Chinese restaurant owners, and hiring overseas chefs faces many hurdles, making it even more difficult. The person in charge of the British Han Dynasty Catering Group told reporters: "Cooking is a technical job in China. Most of it is trained in technical schools and specialized institutions. Practitioners basically do not have a high level of education. It is very difficult for them to master English." Yes, perhaps the increase in English requirements will raise a new threshold for domestic culinary majors, and even undergraduates will offer chef majors in the future. But for now, improving English proficiency is too difficult for the chef industry. Johnny, the manager of the Newcastle All-You-Can-Eat Athens Buffet Restaurant, believes: Instead of letting chefs spend time learning and improving their English, it is better to use this time to study cooking skills. Now Chinese food is flourishing all over the world, and competition is fierce. To promote Chinese food culture to the world, one must be highly skilled in cooking. ?

Although more and more technical schools have opened in the UK and have begun to provide a small number of chef trainings that are sufficient for cooking, these are rare after all, and the professionalism of their teaching has yet to be considered. The Academy of Oriental Cuisine not only provides the opportunity to learn Chinese cuisine in the UK, but the academy also offers English courses in response to the new English requirements. However, Principal Wei said: Although we offer English courses, the Chinese Not enthusiastic about it. They did not pay attention to the difficulty that the change in English proficiency would bring to their application for a work visa. ?Therefore, she called on those who are about to apply for Tier 2 work visas to work hard to learn English.

People 1st, a British private advisory body, wrote in its recommendation report to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC): In the past ten years, the UK, especially London, has The region has a reputation for benefiting from an increasingly diverse and high-quality restaurant scene. This will also add a lot of points to the British tourism industry. High-quality and authentic food from all over the world will promote the UK to become a holy place for "food tourism". The 2012 London Olympics requires the government to ensure that tourists can enjoy diversified and high-quality cuisine in the UK. The shortage of skilled chefs should not dampen the interest of tourists. ?

However, the continuous tightening of immigration policies and the "triple jump" requirement for Chinese chefs' English proficiency have made it impossible for many experienced chefs to cross the threshold to come to the UK. The latest news is that the Ministry of Interior has issued the latest policy for applying for permanent residence. It is proposed that all work visas (Tier 2) will not be able to apply for permanent residence, including the chef industry. This is undoubtedly a "major blow" to the recruitment of Chinese chefs. Many Chinese chefs who want to come to Yingying to improve their family life may stop here. In the face of an Olympic year, Britain's vision of a "food and drink mecca" currently seems difficult to realize.