IELTS Test

[Cindylou]

Hi

I've copied the following from the immi website English language

Non-native English speakers

All applicants who are not native born English speakers must submit results from an International English Language Testing System test undertaken within 12 months of lodging their visa application as evidence of their English language ability.

A native born English language speaker is a person whose first spoken language is English and who is the holder of a passport of one of the following countries:

United Kingdom (UK)

Canada

New Zealand

United States of America (USA)

Republic of Ireland.

Important: If there is any doubt about your English language ability, despite the evidence you may submit with your application, your case officer may ask you to undertake an International English Language Testing System test. Any waiver of the test is at the discretion of your case officer.

Skills Assessments and English

A higher level of English is required for certain occupations where it forms part of the skills assessment. You can find out if your occupation requires a higher level of English by contacting the assessing authority for your nominated occupation. Contact details for assessing bodies are available at the end of the Skilled Occupation List

If you read further you'll also note that any other family members over the age of eighteen should write the test

English requirements for family members

Members of your family, aged 18 years or over, who are included in your application must provide evidence of their current level of English.

Members of your family who have been assessed as not having functional English will be required to pay a second instalment visa application charge.

The second instalment is currently AUD 2 765

If anyone (still in SA) is planing on taking the test in the near future I have a copy of the specimen material which I will gladly give to you, on the understanding that you'll pass it on to the next "wannabe" in need. We found it helpful, particularly as it gave us an idea of what to expect, the format of the test etc. [ post edit 29/2/08 To all those who have sent me mails recently requesting the pack, please note that I sent it out two years ago, and have lost track of who has it now. ]

You can also look at this link for a sample of the different tests.

Cindylou

Edited April 23, 2008 by Cindylou

[Octavius]

Hi

Don't know if this has been mentioned/posted before but I found this website where you can purchase and download example tests. They are very helpful, I passed the general with an 8.5 average.

http://www.ieltsnow.com/

Regards

Tjaart

[Guest Seoul Sister]

Hey Cindylou,

Thanks for this, I have a feeling that JPS will be very interested...

Will contact him to let him know.

Love

SS

[Cindylou]

Hi Tjaart

Hope you don't mind, but I merged our posts!

SS, JPS and I have discussed the test by PM and he mentioned to me that his agent is sending him the practice pack, so if anyone out there is interested drop me a PM and I'll arrange to get it to you (it costs about R400 "new", but second hand is free).

Cindylou

[DesertDaisy]

Do I still have to take this test even though I am a native English speaker and actually have a degree with English as a Major? Who decides whether you need to take it or not?

[Cindylou]

Hi DD

The case officer can request that anyone to take the test, however, in terms of the new legislation it seems pretty clear as to who is considered to be a native English speaker. According to the immigration agents I've had contact with, unless you have one of the mentioned passports then you will, in all likelihood, be required to take the test. I was advised to take the test, despite my educational qulifications, due to this change.

I don't know where you would take the test, but if you wait for the case officer to request IELTS results it could delay your application by a couple of months. In JHB there is one "general" test a month and the places fill up pretty quickly, results take two weeks, so this could add two months to the application process.

Hope this helps,

C'Lou

PS - the test is not at all hard, you'll breeze it

[Nane]

You can also do the ETS TOEFL test. It is recognized with the IELTS in Australia. I quickly checked and there are two test centers in SA. One in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg. Here is the link to the website: http://www.ets.org/

It is a little bit cheaper than IELTS and normally has more sessions. On the TOEFL site, they will give you a few practice sessions once you register.

[alsgal]

Hi Nane,

Are u sure about taking the TOEFL instead of IELTS??? According to http://www.immi.gov.au/legislation/gazetta...31107_ielts.pdf

only people from certain countries can use that TOEFL and unfortunately South Africa is not on the list.

Do you have links to where you got the info? Hubby didn't do as well as he wanted on the IELTS so if we can try the TOEFL we will - just need to be sure though.

[DesertDaisy]

Grief, its expensive to do - its Dh750 which is about R1125 per person just to do the test!

I think we are going to wait until we hear from dh's prospective employer - they have an onsite immigration person and they have already taken on 6 SAffies, so we will see what he says before forking out all that cash.

[Nane]

Hi Alsgal,

I want to go over as a student and most Universities accept TOEFL. After reading through the immigration website, I noted they only accept IELTS for visa purposes. Further, on it makes a statement saying if your English sufficiency level is accepted by the university you qualify for your visa. Know I am a little bit confused myself and need to sort this out. I know this doesn't help you much, but I plan to get a recognized advisor this week to get the correct info.

Sorry, didn't mean to place any misleading information . Will let you know as soon as I know more.

[Nane]

Well, well... Alsgal, you were right. Aaarrrgh! We have to do the IELTS. I have already sat through four hours of TOEFL and now have to it again. The problem is there are no test centers near me for IELTS so this is becoming a huge expense. Have to fly to Paris and stay in a hotel. In the end, if I my score is sufficient it would have cost me a small fortune. However, I only have myself to blame for not checking up before and have to thank you for bringing it to my attention.

[alsgal]

Sorry to hear that Nane - was actually hoping you were right so that hubby could try the TOEFL instead

I'm sure u will be fine with the IELTS - hubby only battled with part of the test because he was not prepared enough and like he says he has been out of school for well over 20 years why should he do a test???? He scored a perfect 9 for the speaking though which just goes to prove that he is fluent in English.

Oh well what we have to do to get to Australia hey!!!

Best of luck with it all.

Cheers,

Paula

[Riekie]

Hi there,

You've reported this post to me, but I'm not sure why? Maybe I'm overlooking the obvious, but if you could tell me which part of this post you want to report - and why - I can act on it immediately. Sorry about that.

Regards,

Riekie

Hi

I've copied the following from the immi website English language ability

If anyone (still in SA) is planing on taking the test in the near future I have a copy of the specimen material which I will gladly give to you, on the understanding that you'll pass it on to the next "wannabe" in need. We found it helpful, particularly as it gave us an idea of what to expect, the format of the test etc.

Cindylou

[DesertDaisy]

Are there any English-speaking (as in home language) people who DIDN'T have to do the test? Did only the primary applicant have to do it, or did the spouse/family members have to do it too?

Its just that its so expensive to do here, and its irritating because I AM English speaking and so is my hubby.

[alsgal]

Hi,

The new rule is that unless you hold a passport from one of the few select countries then you must complete the IELTS test to prove the english requirement.

We submitted proof of doing english as a first language at school and even went as far as saying that we would get written confirmation that all schooling since birth was condiucted in English. Unfortunately it was still a no go and hubby had to do IELTS.

For some reason they have so far only asked for hubby's IELTS and nothing from me or our 18 year old son.

[Cindylou]

Hi Alsgal

I was informed that, in all likelihood, my "spouse" would have to write the test and get a minimum band score of 4.5 to prove Functional English. We decided that he take the test anyway, instead of waiting and seeing if the case officer requested it. (As the primary applicant I had to get 6 in all four components for Competent English)

It will be really good to know whether or not your case officer also requests you to prove Functional English, so please keep us informed

Thanx stax

Cindylou

[alsgal]

Hi Cindylou,

I think the reasoning behind not asking me or my son to do the IELTS is because we supplied proof that I did english as a first language at school and that our son attended an international Australian school here in Saudi Arabia where education was in English.

I believe that the requirement for IELTS is really only to prove that you have either vocational (15 points) or competent (20 points) english language ability.

If the spouse and other dependants are unable to prove that they have at least functional english there is a facility to pay a second installment so that you can still get your visa.

I will post if I get requested to do the IELTS but I really don't think that they will request it at this late stage (or at least fingers crossed that they don't as i'm not keen to spend even more money )

Paula

[Cindylou]

With regards to the facility mentioned by Alsgal I was advised as follows:

If you can't prove functional English, or don't get the required marks from the IELTS test then you would be asked to pay a further fee to DIMIA of AUD $2630, which would allow you to undertake up to 510 hours of English language tuition following your arrival in Australia as new migrants.

[DesertDaisy]

Its so frustrating, isn't it. We're going to book dh for the test ASAP as there are only 2 places in Abu Dhabi that do it, and apparently the one place only has seats left for the tests in AUGUST! We can't wait that long.

And we still haven't even had the flipping job offer. I'm feeling very stressed right now.

[alsgal]

Hi DesertDaisy,

Are u sure you need to do the IELTS? From reading your posts you are going to apply for a 457 visa?? I can't find anything on DIMA to say that you need IELTS.

Have you considered emailing or even phoning DIMA to make sure of what the requirements are for that specific visa.

You will need the IELTS if you apply for PR later on but keep in mind that the IELTS test score is only valid for 1 year for DIMA's purposes.

Paula

[DesertDaisy]

Paula, yes we are going (hopefully) on a 457 visa, but plan to apply for PR ASAP - his prospective employer has said they will support a PR application once we are there.

They apparently will give us an immigration expert to help us with the process, but we are trying to get everything ready in advance so that we don't have any delays. I think the next available test date is only in June or July, so we can always cancel the booking if its not necessary.

[Cindylou]

Unless you're applying for GSM (General Skilled Migration) you don't need to take the test, and as Alsgal said, the test is only valid for one year (although that isn't date of processing but date of submission of the application) If you are going to submit your application when you are already in Aus on the 457 why don't you wait until you're there and take the test in Aus? Might help to reduce some of your stress if you worry about that one in Aus.

Hang in there, it really seems like an impossible task when you're trying to get organised, but it'll all work out fine, promise....

Cindylou

[DesertDaisy]

Thanks ladies.

I'm just extra stressed today because our car got bumped, and here in Abu Dhabi that means hassle. And its 45 deg C outside.

[DBN1972]

Hi folks,

I'm about to make an appointment for my IELTS test and have been offered the "learning package" from someone else (who's already written the IELTS) at a reduced price.

My question: For those of us who speak, read and write fluent English in any event, is such course material really necessary?

Otherwise said: Can I easily pass the IELTS by just "rocking up" at the exam room and commencing the test?

Many thanks

Willem

Durban

[JacoE]

Another question regarding this...

I see one gets 15 points (on the points test system for the 495 Skilled Independant Regional Visa for instance) for having a minimum score of 5 on each band (vocational English) but 20 points for scoring at least 6 on each band (competent English).

Does anyone know whether the scores refer to the same test or is there a 'vocational english' test and a different 'competent english' test? If there is only one test, does this imply that by getting a better score for better English ability that one can achieve a higher points total in order to 'make the cut' as it were for the visa or are you onl awarded the point necessary to get the skill assesment approved?

In short, has anyone obtained 20 points for English ability on the visa application where they only required 15 points for the skills assesment?

(Don't read this post late at night - I can write but I can't compose)