November 25, 2021

English Language Requirement for Partner Visa

The Government plans to administer new reforms to strengthen outcomes of the Partner program by the end of this year. One of the changes is the English language requirement.

The new framework aims to encourage and support English language acquisition as the English language will be an essential criterion for permanent resident sponsors and Partner visa applicants aged 18 to retirement.

Permanent resident sponsors will have to meet the English language requirement for sponsorship assessment

Partner Visa applicants will need to have adequate English language requirements at the second stage assessment, which ideally is two years after the lodgement of the provisional Partner Visa.

The AMEP

Partners on the provisional Partner visa will access the Government-funded Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) classes to learn English.

The department will look into the proficiency level and whether ‘a reasonable effort’ was made to learn English, i.e. participating in the AMEP classes. The AMEP offers unlimited hours of tuition compared to the 510 hours of tuition earlier. In addition, more efforts have been put to improve accessibility through online learning and classes for the specially abled.

The Other Way

The good news is that there are other ways to meet the English language requirement. Such as:

Scoring good numbers in an approved English test
If the applicants have a valid passport from Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the United States.
If/when the applicant has obtained a qualification where all the instructions were in English.

Implementation

The English language requirement will be established by the end of 2021 and will remain applicable to all the applications lodged on or after the implementation date.

If you need help with your partner visa application, book an appointment with E-Help Consultants and let us handle it for you.