Three couples are fighting a new law, which came into force in the UK last year in November, which requires immigrants to be able to speak English if they wish to join their spouses in this country.
The couples are requesting a judicial review, claiming that the new law breaches the human right to a family life and that it is discriminatory.
Rashida Chapti, 54, is a British citizen and she has been married to Vali Chapti, 57, for 37 years and has six children. For the past 15 years, Mrs Chapti has travelled between England and India in order to spend time with her husband, but now she wishes Mr Chapti to live with her in Leicester.
Mr Chapti cannot speak, read or write English, but will have work in England as a machinist, with his wife, who says he is too old now to start learning English.
Mrs Chapti said: "I just want to be with my husband. I miss him. I believe he has every right to be with me."
Manjit Gill, QC, representing the Chaptis said: "Someone who is settled here, someone who is a British citizen, is ordinarily entitled to have their spouse living with them, providing it is a genuine marriage, providing there is no recourse to public funds."
But he claims that the new law infringes on the human right that entitles people to marry and live in a family unit and is "blatantly, admittedly, racially discriminatory".
Mr Gill said: "The rule is designed, putting it crudely, to keep out persons who tend to marry within their communities, who tend to have arranged marriages, who tend to be from the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East in particular."
The case continues.
Related links:
Read more on the story (The Telegraph)
Read about family visas (FindLaw)
Find local immigration solicitors throughout the UK (FindLaw)
