LOCAL registered migration agent Maria Armstrong is hopeful the government’s introduction of English language proficiency on partner visas will help provide further opportunities for migrants to maximise their opportunities in Australia.

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She believes that love does not require language proficiency.

“English language proficiency should not be a prior condition when people fall in love,” she told News of The Area.

“Love is love and people fall in love because of a romantic attraction, for who they are or with similar interests.

“On the other hand, Federal MP for Aston in Victoria said without sufficient English language skills, migrants are particularly vulnerable to family violence and other exploitation because they are less likely to know how and where to seek assistance.”

In October 2020, the Australian Federal Government released its budget. In this budget document, the Australian Government proposed new requirements for partner visa applicants and their permanent resident sponsors to make reasonable efforts to learn English.

The Department of Home Affairs proposes that new partner visa applicants and permanent resident sponsors are required to have a functional level of English from late 2021.

So, what do potential visa applicants have to do to show functional English?

An example would be the completion of five hundred hours of free English language classes through the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).

They may also do an International English Language Test Score (IELTS) exam and achieve an IELTS band 4.5 for functional English.

Ms Armstrong continued, “Based on the announcement, the imposition of this additional requirement remains a potential hurdle to visa applicants and their sponsors (if they are a permanent resident rather than an Australian citizen).

“At the moment, it is not clear whether there will be exemptions for people who hold certain passports from English speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, New Zealand or Ireland.

“Or people who have completed a degree, a higher degree, a diploma or a trade certificate in other countries where most classes were in English.”

Most partner visas are a provisional/temporary visa of two years before becoming eligible for a permanent visa.

The English language requirement will have to be met at the time of the granting of the permanent partner visa.

The partner visa application is an expensive and lengthy process.

At the time of writing, the visa application charge is $7,715 and the processing time for an onshore partner visa application is between twenty three to twenty eight months while the offshore partner visa application is between fifteen to nineteen months.

By Sandra MOON