AMSTERDAM - Associated Press


Human Rights Watch yesterday criticized a Dutch law forcing some would-be immigrants to pass a language and culture test before arrival branding it discriminatory.

The rights group said the test essentially targets people from developing nations - and in particular Turaaa and Morocco - because citizens of the United States Japan and other developed nations are exempt."Dutch authorities would need extremely powerful reasons to justify" such discrimination Human Rights Watch said. The test primarily a language test must be taken at Dutch embassies abroad and costs 350 euros per attempt. That's before immigrant visa fees which are also hundreds of euros per year and permanent residency or naturalization fees which cost nearly 1000 euros.

"The impact ... has fallen primarily on those wanting to join family members from two of the three largest non-Western migrant communities in the Netherlands Moroccans and Turks" the rights group said.

Dutch government spokeswoman Gerda de Lange rejected the criticism.

The legality of the law was "debated thoroughly in parliament and by the Council of State before it was passed" in 2006 she said. "The law is not discriminatory. There are indeed exemptions for some countries but that's true of the whole of immigration law."

She also denied that Moroccans and Turks had been discriminated against noting that they made up only one-third of applicants. "The law is intended to ensure that immigrants are better prepared to integrate: They will have more chance of succeeding if they know the basics of Dutch language history and culture before they arrive" she said. "If their aim is to build a new life here they should begin acquiring the knowledge they'll need" she said.