The threshold requirement for an Australian skilled visa applicant will be “competent English” for most General Skilled Migration visas.
- An Australian visa applicant with minimum English will be given 15 points on the English requirement, and those who have “proficient English” will be awarded 25 points.
- Secondary visa applicants are not required to meet the English threshold requirements but if they do not have functional English they may be required to pay a second instalment visa application charge before they are granted the Australian visa.
- Visa applicants will need to provide evidence of their English ability. There 2 approved tests for migration purposes, the Occupation English Test (OET) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
- IELTS is the most common and preferred English language test. It is a test conducted on a worldwide basis by the British Council. The test has 4 components, reading, writing, listening and speaking.
- For Proficient english, an applicant must achieve a score of 7.0 in each of the 4 components.
- For Competent english, an applicant must achieve a score of 6.0 in each of the 4 components.
- For Concessional Competent english, an applicant must achieve a score of 5.5 in each of the 4 components.
- For Vocational english, an applicant must achieve a score of 5.0 in each of the 4 components.
- For Functional english, an application must achive an average band score of 4.5 for the 4 components.
- If a visa applicant holds a passport for UK/Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, USA or Canada, they will be deemed as having competent English language without the need to provide an IELTS test result.
- All other nationalities will be required to provide evidence of English language ability.
