Australian Immigration Daily News

The Minister’s announcement can be found at:  http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/mc/2014/mc214807.htm and the Department’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)s regarding the changes including the score requirements are available on this web site:  http://www.immi.gov.au/News/Pages/aelt.aspx  

The incoming regulations will apply to the following visa subclasses:  124, 132, 151, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 462, 476, 485, 489, 858, 887, 888, 890, 891, 892, 893.

The introduction of competition for testing options through acceptance of the TOEFL iBT, which is a widely recognised English proficiency test across the globe, will mean your members’ clients can have a choice of English test.

Migration Alliance members may not be familiar with the TOEFL test, here are some facts:

v  Educational Testing Service (ETS), creator of the TOEFL test, is the largest not-for-profit research and measurement company globally.  It is a mission based organisation of 5500 staff worldwide which delivers more than 50 million tests annually

v  This year the  TOEFL test celebrates its 50^th year and is  well known in many source markets for Australia for both international students and skilled migrants

v  The TOEFL iBT test (TOEFL internet-based test) is the most accessible English proficiency test, with over 4000 test centres globally

v  The TOEFL iBT test is only administered at ETS certified test centres and uses the same security protocols for transmission of data as major financial institutions

v  The TOEFL iBT test measures the four core skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), taking advantage of the power of technology to deliver test questions that require test takers to combine multiple communication skills to summarise, evaluate and synthesise information

v  No scoring takes place at TOEFL iBT test centres: all scoring is controlled centrally to support security and ensure consistency in scoring

v  The scoring process is undertaken by trained assessors who mark globally and monitored by scoring leaders overseen by ETS . This provides further assurance of security, independence and consistency of scoring, irrespective of the test taker’s country of origin

v  Security is a high priority.  ETS TOEFL is constantly innovating and implementing new measures to boost confidence in its test results.  In February 2014 biometric voice identification was introduced for all test takers worldwide, a measure no other international English proficiency test uses

v  Information about the equivalence research between the TOEFL iBT test and  existing IELTS visa requirements can be found at: www.ets.org/toefl/institutions/scores/compare

v  For more information about the TOEFL test, please see www.ets.org/toefl