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English Test for Citizenship: Submission by the Australia Iran Migration Consultants Association
In April 2017, the Australian Government proposed replacing the requirement of ‘basic’ proficiency in English with ‘competent’ proficiency in English as a criterion for citizenship.
Australia Iran Migration Consultants Association has prepared the following submission regarding strengthening the test for Australian Citizenship:
English_test_for_citizenship.pdf
The President of the Association has requested that the submission be published on the Migration Alliance website so that an opportunity for migration agents / solicitors to express their views on these proposed changes can be made.
Comments
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Wednesday, 07 June 2017thats a racist comment
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Saturday, 03 June 2017
It's not fair that the refugees that came by the lew, they have to know English like IELTS!
We work here, we're not in senterlink benefit, we pay tax, and then for citizenship we have to know high level of English! Not fair! -
Saturday, 03 June 2017
Government should offer free IELTS classes before testing people.
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Saturday, 03 June 2017
I strongly disagree with the IELTS English test and even all new citizenship test laws. One of the reason is due to majority of Australian people cannot pass the IESLTS test and it's nearly impossible for many migrants who wants to have the citizenship which is against the human rights. Therefore, it shows that the government wants to increase its budget by means of its people's pockets, and the new IELTS test does not have anything with the Australian value or community integration, it does with government's money and anti-Muslim descrimination.
I wonder if MPs themselves could have passed the English test in their ages! Do they have originally from Australia or their ancestors have occupied the continent and made them an Australian citizen?! They have got their citizenship and does not want to give this to others. There are lots of things to say, but think about the refugees who are suffering from the horrible background they had as many people with ages of over 40 are not able to study or work due to the disability or physical and mental problems. -
Saturday, 03 June 2017
Australia does not have any national language, but if it chooses one, why not aboriginal language?
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Wednesday, 07 June 2017
so which indigenous dialect do you propose we use as the national language?
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Saturday, 03 June 2017
Absolutely true
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Sunday, 04 June 2017
I immigrated as a skill migrant and came to Australia by PR visa.I did an IELTS exam before which the result was sufficient for the visa process.Why l should do another test?????.Besides,my husband may not obtain IELTS 6 in each skill although he is working in the society and can communicate well.It is definitely an unfair decision to do another test. Should we get another time disappointed about the citizenship???!!!!we have tolerated hard times to catch the visa and more hard times for living in a tough economical society for four years...That is too much...
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Sunday, 04 June 2017
why are they australian government doing this i only reading comments from highly qualified migrants who are committed to their careers yes there are many australians who could not pass a IELTS test but it you want to immigrate to australia the government perhaps wish to upgrade the appallingly low standards of english man low skilled immigrants have & wont. cant or do not want to work in their skilled occupations such as cooks & accountants that they used to get permanent residency then work in low skilled dead end jobs the australians who could not pass the IELTS a tests could be working as there is massive unemployment & under employment.in this country as to where this fits in to becoming a australian citizen i am as confused as the other respondents here
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Sunday, 04 June 2017
Ielts is not a test , its just such a good business . I am sure that even an Australian who was born in Australia is unable to get more than 6 . then the government s expectation from job skill immigrant is to score 7 in each skill .... so funny
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Sunday, 04 June 2017
Hi,
I came here with my family with business visa, I am professional electrical engineer with 25 years experience . I am manufacture natural gas equipments and low & medium voltage switchgear, i was working in top level in my company, i setup my business in this country and i spent a lot of money, but now every thing wants to changes. That is not fair. Please dont change that at least for people who came before in this country -
Monday, 05 June 2017
Exactly, I am sure so many even educated Australian born can not pass this test
This is unfair.I agree -
Monday, 05 June 2017
I have studied in this country. I am a graduated person by master degree. I am living and working in regional Australia. I am a good taxpayer with no criminal record. I am not even a member of centrelink. I am not eligible for medicare. My baby has been born in here but she is not even eligible for permanent residency. There is no access to IELTS course in here to improve my skills. Even for the test I have to travel 500 km to reach the exam centre. This is nonsense and unjustified.
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Tuesday, 06 June 2017
This is hilarious.
All the people complaining about these changes are people who cannot write English properly.
There are so many mistakes in spelling and comprehension errors in people's replies that proves to me that we need these high standards of English to ensure that we are not going to have a Singaporean style system where English and Chinese are intermixed.
To be an Australian, you are expected to communicate in the language that we use, English. The only explanation that you can reasonably have when you fail the IELTS is that your English is simply not good enough.
I am sick of having to go to restaurants or deal with people who cannot understand English, it is frustrating.
The reason why people stick to their native tongue is because they live in Ethnic enclaves in capital cities where they don't need to use English.
In Sydney, you can go to Hurstville and get away with speaking Mandarin to buy groceries, clothes and go about your every day life.
Same as people living in Auburn or some places out west where you can get away with speaking Arabic to do the same.
I support these changes, they are warranted to make Australia a better place to live. -
Tuesday, 06 June 2017
Hi Tony. Look at the different business visa streams on the Department of Immigration website. You do not have to know English if you wish to migrate to Australia and you are willing to invest between AUD 5 million - $ 15 million . These migrants can hire a full time interpreter to communicate with you if they wish to do so. This policy will discourage the business people to migrate to Australia .
I am not sure whether you are familiar with IELTS or not , There are 4 modules including speaking , reading , listening and writing. -
Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Yes, so what?
How is a no english requirement for someone who wants to invest in Government shares going to deter business people to migrate to Australia?
How can you operate a business without the knowledge of English, including speaking, reading, listening and writing?
Are you aware that many qualifications obtained overseas, like Engineering, Construction, Medicine, Law etc are not directly transferable to Australian jobs and or qualifications?
Many people who are Engineers in Iran, Pakistan etc or who have Construction qualifications from China etc end up in below average jobs like Taxi Drivers, Casual Chef's or work in unskilled jobs because they lack many of the requirements you need to work in a 1st world country.
I am familiar with the IELTS test, the reason why Australian's don't need to prove they are competent in English is because English subjects are compulsory in School and once kids graduate from School they are deemed proficient. Schooling in Australia is world class and many suggestions from migrants on this forum suggest Australians or Indigenous Australians cannot perform to the standards set by the Department, which is absurd and quite frankly racist.
There have been other comments on this forum indicating Australia does not have a national language, which is factually incorrect... its English.
The reason why Australia doesn't adopt Indigenous language as its national language is because there are over 100 Indigenous dialects and you can't paint all Indigenous Australians with one brush. A comment on this forum suggested this, which again... is silly.
This proves the Departments point, Migrants must perform high English skills in the modules to qualify to be an Australian Citizen, yes the past was different but we are in the 21st Century and things change.
Tough lucky to all those involved, I'm a Citizen and I don't need to prove proficiency in English because by birth I have all the rights conferred to me by being a Citizen of this country and being educated in a 1st world, world class system means I am proficient in English like many of my other country men and do not need to prove otherwise.
Australia is sovereign and can make all the rules up as they go because they can, if you don;t like it... improve and overcome the hurdle or don't apply to be a Citizen, simple... right? -
Friday, 09 June 2017
Dear Tom,
I agree with you that Australia’s main language is English and people who would like to come to Australia and become Australian citizens should have some levels of English language skills.
In the article subject to our discussion, the writer submits and puts forward his well evidenced arguments around the fact that a score of 6 in each band in IELTS is too high to achieve for non-Australians who are not from English speaking countries. Please bear in mind that it is only non- Australians who would apply for Australian citizenship and also note that citizens of other English speaking countries such as US, CA, and UK are generally not that much interested in becoming Australian citizens.
Citizenship is a very attractive incentive for many skilled and business people around the world to migrate to some better placed environmentally, economically and etc (but not necessarily technically advanced) countries such as Australia. If this incentive is removed, many migrants choose to migrate somewhere else. You would know by now that if we did not have skilled and business migrants, we would not survive. I will give you the example of migration from China to Australia. Please simply look around yourself and see if there is a place where there are no Chinese doctors, engineers, business owners, and the like. The same goes for Indians and to a lesser level people from other countries. Just imagine for a single day that Chinese and Indian doctors, nurses, radiographer and etc left their job at Westmead hospital in Sydney.
Going back to the topic, the issue of competent English is not and will not be a major dilemma for many skilled workers who have already obtained a score of minimum 6 which is required under Schedule 2 of Migration Regulations 1994. The issue would be for them to re-sit and in fact to re-pay for something that they have already done/paid for.
This issue would, however, exists and remains so for many highly qualified skilled workers who came through 457 and then transitional pathway to 186. They are still in the workforce, as they were from day one, well integrated in the society, paid their taxes and obeyed the Australian law, but yet to be able to get a score of 6 in each band of IELTS. It is very easy for a person with English being his first language to claim that a score of 6 is easy, but in reality it is very difficult for a highly skilled Chinese (any many other nationalities for that matter) welder, carpenter and the like to achieve 6 in the Writing module.
The matter of concern is far worse for business visa holders. They have brought to Australia their long-life business experience as well as their wealth on the basis that there is/was no mandatory English Language skill requirement. We all know that business holders can either show their functional English ability or pay for it.
The same goes for partner, parent and other family visa holders.
There are two serious concerns with the changes suggested by the government in relation to English language ability for citizenship:
1- These changes, if approved by the parliament and senate, would be effective from 19 April and in a case of more sensible and thoughtful amendment by the parliament members, the changes might come into effect from the date of approval. This would be a retrospective law affecting thousands of migrants, who as I said earlier are been promised the said incentive by the Australian government to become Australian citizens based on the then (and still in place) law, and now at once their dreams are destroyed.
2- The Competent English (6 in IELTS or equivalent tests) is certainly a too high bar for many current and future Australian permanent residents. A lesser score or alternative options such as attending certain courses might seem more rational for future visa holders (not the current ones) in my view.
While on the topic, I also want to point to the similar retrospective changes in relation to the residency requirement for citizenship. This is certainly seen as a backstab and cheat by the government from many migrants point of view. This has been a terrible news for many students, business, partner and 457 visa holders who have already been in Australia for several years on a temporary visa, have finally got their permanent visa, suddenly being told that you have to stay here for another 4 years before becoming eligible for citizenship. Many of these temporary visa holders would never come to Australia in the first place if they were aware of such policies.
Off the topic, I also want to say that I agree with you that some engineers from different countries would come here and become taxi drivers, but the reason for this is not their English skills or their qualifications. You have simply undermined other countries’ education level in your comment, not knowing that for example in 2016 almost 50 percent of PhD students being granted Australian scholarship to study at UNSW were from Iran and all those students were graduates of Iranian universities. For your information, engineers cannot migrate here as skilled worker unless their qualifications are recognized by Engineers Australia and their English competency is seen as competent or proficient by DIBP. As you are aware, there are many Australian born, raised, educated and graduated engineers who are desperately looking for jobs. The fact is that in some occupations there aren’t enough jobs for all those engineers and that’s why they become taxi drivers.
At the end, I would say that as an Australian citizen who came here as a student and then got his residency through skilled migration, love to see a stronger Australia in all aspects. Australia is one of the best (if not the best) places to live, as long as Trump style polices are not being made. I certainly disagree with any sudden unfair changes which will put Australia in a bad position.
Cheers
Sirous -
Friday, 09 June 2017
I migrated to Australia in 2002. In 2003, I could exported about 1 mio A$ vitamins to Iran, the demand of one year of the country. It was done, when 100 different brands from Canada, USA, India, Turkey, Germany and … were offering the same products in the market, and you can assume how difficult was my fight against all those strong competitors!
It was only because of my networks and marketing team in Iran, not because of my English knowledge.
Austrade, the governmental body of Australia for supporting exportation of Australian products, awarded me for my big efforts.
I know some other Australian products in Iran, which dominating the market, such QV, only because of the strong wish and love of the owner toward Australia, not because the product is cheaper or better that competitors, and not because of the perfect English knowledge of the owner of the owner is perfect.
I have been a citizen of Australia since 2010, and I love Australia and have done a lot for Australia for exporting Australian products, which create jobs and support a stronger economy.
Australia needs Jobs for its future children and generation. We need strong economy, and native English nations are not sufficient enough for growing our economy. The situation in the world has been changed a lot, and UK is not governing the world any more. New economies have been born in Asia and other part of the world. No one can ignore China or S. Korea. Iran is the most important country in its region.
I would like to request the parliament and government to look at the future of Australia, and not to get emotional of current political situation of the world. Talking English in such a high level does not help the economy. The future belongs to the stronger economies. Do not let other countries use the opportunities. Very soon, it would be too late for Australia to find new markets for its products. Many countries are easing their migration criteria, to observe excellent genius people in different fields, academic or business!
Please try to make the economy stronger for future to support Australian in Health care and Medicare supports, purchasing power, and free education facilities purposes. We need only exportation to achieve this goal, English knowledge is the least requirement. We need professional people, PLEASE! -
Friday, 09 June 2017
I am a good Tennis player. To play Tennis well, I need good techniques and training, fitness and strong mind, and for sure no need to speak English at all!
If Australia likes to be on top ranked countries in International sport events, such as different Tennis opens, rugby, succor, water sports, Olympics and other tournaments, Australia needs professional and good athletics, and not English skilled people.
Please think carefully, what you need, good English speakers, or good players!
Saeed
Immigration blog
Disagree with IELTS test. The Australian people or aboriginal people can not pass IELTS test .