Earlier this week the Australian Federal Budget was released, revealing a lot of big news.
The Morrison Government is introducing new requirements for partner visa applicants and their permanent resident sponsors to make reasonable efforts to learn English. The announcement may lead to a surge in searches for Espresso Translations address in London, UK, and quick English learning techniques.
Clarifying how this may impact Australians and their partners, Prime Minister Scott Morrison today said that test will need applicants to prove their basic language ability- a lot less competency that is expected out of skilled migration applicants.
As part of this week’s Budget, the Government has announced new requirements for partner visa applicants and permanent resident sponsors to make reasonable efforts to learn English. Partner visas constitute 90 percent of the family stream of the permanent migration intake. The skill stream already has English requirements.
From late 2021, new partner visa applicants and permanent resident sponsors will be required to have functional level English or to demonstrate that they have made reasonable efforts to learn English.
People will be able to demonstrate this through, for example, the completion of 500 hours of free English language classes through the AMEP.
Most partner visas are a provisional visa of two years before becoming eligible for a permanent visa. The requirement will have to be met at the time of the granting of the permanent visa.
Addressing the multicultural media during a press conference earlier today, Mr Morrison said the English language policy requirement is aimed at promoting social and economic inclusion of partners of permanent resident sponsors.
“It’s a much more basic level of English language competency and we think this is important to just enable people to engage to access government services, for example, to engage with those who are seeking to assist to access and get the best possible medical treatment to understand what teachers are saying at school at parent-teacher conferences, to understand their rights,” he said.
When questioned about the rationale behind introducing a language barometer for partner visa applicants, Mr Morrison said the move is an important step towards empowering new migrants and to protect them from domestic abuse and work exploitation.
“I am aware that a lack of English language skills particularly amongst partners has put many of those partners at risk in Australia, at risk of domestic violence, at risk of being abused in their workplace and having their rights overtaken.
“The English language is absolutely critical to help people when they come to Australia to take the greatest opportunity of what life in Australia can mean,” said the prime minister.
Visa block for partners who don’t speak English – Marie Segrave
Assoc Prof Marie Segrave, the deputy director of the Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre, said the move ignored the reality that women seeking partner visas often came to Australia already married, or with children, and the requirement could push them on to other visitor or temporary visas with no support.
“It needs to be very clear that visa status is used as leverage by perpetrators, all the time, and locking women out of the partner visa actually just enables perpetrators to continue to have control,” she told Guardian Australia. “So it’s very concerning.”
The proposed language requirement is supported by one of the major institutions teaching English to students, Ames Australia. The organisation’s chief executive, Cath Scarth, told Guardian Australia that learning English would help migrants access employment services and help women in family violence situations understand their rights.
“Access to domestic violence services, understanding the laws, and understanding that husbands can’t threaten you with losing your visa if you leave – and all those kinds of things – is just that much harder if you don’t speak English,” she said.