Government Quietly Lowers English Test Score Requirement for Some Visas

The Albanese government has quietly lowered the minimum ­English test mark to be eligible for some visas in a move the Coalition says will exacerbate Australia’s “out of control” migrant intake.

The Coalition at the last election pledged to cut migration to 160,000 people per year instead of the projected 260,000, but has stayed relatively quiet on the issue since the election loss.

On Tuesday, Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite ordered the minimum test mark for someone to have “functional” English skills be lowered for some exams prospective migrants can take to prove their proficiency. It was the first time in 10 years the minimum scores had been updated.

When contacted for comment, the government did not say why it had made the changes.

For the Test of English as a Foreign Language, administered by US nonprofit Educational Training Service, the mark requirement was dropped from 32 out of 120 down to 26. For the Pearson Test of English, administered by education publishing company Pearson, the mark ­requirement dropped from 30 out of 90 down to 24.

According to Pearson, the drop means the standard falls from someone who “can understand sentences and frequently used expressions” and “can ­communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters”, down to someone who can only “understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases” and “can ­interact in a simple way provided the other person talks ­slowly and clearly and is prepared to help”.

For the most popular exam – the International English Language Testing System, administered by the British Council – the requirement remained at 4.5 out of 9. “Functional” proficiency is required for visa classes including the training visa and the work and holiday visa.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie said the government would exacerbate “out of control” migration. “The Albanese Labor government brought in a million ­migrants in its first two years – 70 per cent higher than in any previous two-year period,” he said.

“A new person is migrating to Australia every 54 seconds.

“This is unsustainable. Instead of moderating immigration, the minister is lowering minimum English proficiency standards.

“Under (Home Affairs Minister) Tony Burke, our migration system is out of control, and it’s only going to get worse.

“Australians are worse off under Labor’s immigration policy. Our infrastructure is under pressure, essential services are stretched thin, and young Australians are locked out of the housing market. Social cohesion is fraying.”

Mr Burke hit back at Mr Hastie but did not explain the rationale behind the changes.

“Net overseas migration has fallen, as we said it would,” he said.

“I’d been told the opposition wanted to have a reset with multicultural communities. It appears with Mr Hastie nothing has changed, no message has been ­received.”

Former Immigration Department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi said the changes were likely the outcome of the department’s work to align the actual aptitude level reflected by the various exams.

“What you see now is the ­results of that concordance study,” he said. “In fact, the PTE test, in my view, has become more difficult.

“And when they did the concordance study, they found they had to change the pass mark for the PTE to make it equivalent to the IELTS score.”

Mr Thistlethwaite also ­ordered changes to the minimum marks required to clear the other English levels for other classes of visas: “vocational”, “competent”, “proficient”, and “superior”.

Dr Rizvi noted that speaking and writing “have always been the more difficult challenges for new migrants”.

“Speaking and writing often tend to be the two crucial things that employers look for,” he said.