Government officials have spelt the word “language” wrong in an official press release announcing new language tests to be forced on immigrants.

The embarrassing mistake, described as “beyond parody” by tickled social media users, comes as migrants are threatened with deportation if they fail the new tests.

David Cameron announced earlier this week that spouses who came to the UK on a visa to live with their partner would have their English tested after two and a half years.

The hilarious error (Home Office)

If they failed the test there was “no guarantee” they would not be deported, he said.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that mothers with British citizen children could lose the right to live in the country their children were citizens of.

With British children not necessarily able to live in other countries, families could potentially be broken up by the rule changes.

“You can’t guarantee you’ll be able to stay if you’re not improving your language. It is tough but people coming to our country have responsibility too,” Mr Cameron told the Today programme.

In a press release sent out on Thursday, however, Home Office officials spelt the word “language” wrongly, writing it “langauge”.