Linda Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Hi,We want to apply for the 136 visa, and would love to claim the 5 bonus points for speaking an AUS community language. Since NAATI testing is "unavailable", how do I prove it? They say that "You must have professional level language skills (written or oral) as evidenced by a qualification (of equivalent standard to an Australian degree) gained from a university where instruction was in one of the listed languages or by accreditation with NAATI at the professional level."Anyone been able to claim these points?Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawny Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Hi Linda,Write a letter to them in "suiwer Afrikaans" and have one of them translate it over there, I am sure they would give you the 5 bonus points then Otherwise, I am sure if you have any certificates that are printed in Afrikaans (education wise) then I think they might find it sufficient, dunno though. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I've got my matric certificate that states Afrikaans first language and "Engels" second language ... won't they need an official translation? I'm just curious to find out if anyone has been able to claim these elusive points and HOW? Hey, it's worth the same as $100 000 investment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawny Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Well, while my dad was looking at getting his qualifications certified over there, they required that all certificates be translated be an appointed translator.So I guess you will have to find out from someone as to who can translate it for you so that they will accept it. I am not sure if you can simply send it over as-is, but I have heard of some people sending over qualifications that are printed in Afrikaans without them having a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octavius Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 HiTo claim the bonus points I attached a certified letter from R.A.U. to state that my first degree (B. Engineering) was instructed in Afrikaans. I believe this is what they want as the people at RAU knew what I was talking about.I'll only find out in about 8 months if this is really acceptable.All my wife's and my qualifications (degree certificates) and academic transcripts were translated into English from Afrikaans (as I believe the requirement to be) by the university.Hope this helps.RegardTjHiIn addition to my post above, as I read it they require you to demonstrate the skill by having done a degree in that language and not show that you have done Afrikaans as a subject or have a degree in Afrikaans.RegardsTj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Hi Tjaart,I find this very confusing. I suppose the only thing to do would be to contact the university and let them state that some of the subjects were presented in Afrikaans? (which is true) My degree certificate is English, they gave us the option towards the end of my studies and it seemed like a good idea at the time Thanks so much for your input!Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octavius Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 HiI suspect the whole degree must have been instructed in Afrikaans.RegardsTj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbo Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 (edited) Hi.As far as i know only degrees instructed in Afrikaans from R.A.U and Stellenbosch are accpeted as proof for bonus points. Edited July 20, 2006 by timbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 We got the bonus points for getting letters from our university saying that we did our degrees in Afrikaans. We did not need them but got them anyway justt in case they changed the points in the middle of our application AGAIN. My husband had to resubmit his qualification verification because he got 10 points more for his electronic engineer qualification than for his sales engineer experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 My husband emailed the University of the Free State to enquire whether they could write a letter to say that he did his degree in Afrikaans. The helpful guy over there knew exactly what we were talking about and said that they do this kind of thing all the time. We got the letter (it has to be on university letterhead) and sent it off with our application. The letter said something like " ...... was enrolled at this university from ... to ... and completed a ... degree. During the time that he was student at the university, all instruction was solely in the medium of Afrikaans". Only RAU and Stellenbosch? No way, Timbo, I don't think so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJV Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 (edited) Hi.As far as i know only degrees instructed in Afrikaans from R.A.U and Stellenbosch are accpeted as proof for bonus points.Hi TimboNot true, I got the 5 bonus points for completing first degree at TUKS (in Afrikaans). Edited July 21, 2006 by JJV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertDaisy Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 This is great news for me, as we are short on points, and I did my basic 3 year and then my Honours degree all at the Rand Afrikaans University even though I am English speaking. When I went, there were no English lectures at RAU at all. It was just after I left that they introduced the option of English lectures for some subjects in some courses.So all I need to do to claim the points is get a letter from RAU stating that I did my degree in Afrikaans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 I also got the 5 points for doing my degree at TUKS - got a letter from the university stating my degree was done in Afrikaans and it was accepted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterbug Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Hi All,You can claim the 5 points as others have indicated, by getting a letter from your university (mainly Afrikaans ones I suspect) stating that your medium of instruction was in Afrikaans. Even if it wasn't. I suspect RAU is easy for Australians to accept since it has Afrikaans in the name of the university. This was a bit of interesting one for me, I mean if you happen to be Afrikaans, how do you prove your Afrikaans language proficiency to someone in a foreign country who is English speaking and does not understand Afrikaans? Say you were Afrikaans and you decided to study at an English university, how would you prove that you are Afrikaans. I'm sure your high school certificate indicating your mode of teaching would help, or you'd have to find some other inventive way to prove your proficiency in your mother tongue.Weird thing happened with me was that, although I am Afrikaans speaking and I completed all my studies at various Afrikaans universities (US, UNISA, RAU) almost none of my degree courses were actually presented in Afrikaans, and where I had the choice I chose English as my medium of instruction anyway. So in fact I had almost no instruction in Afrikaans. The point is how would Aus officials know? And how would your university (or the person you would be asking for that letter), after a couple of years know which mode of language you were instructed in? The point is that if you are Afrikaans speaking, just state that you are Afr speaking, claim the 5 points and get your university to issue that certificte/letter. Most of them know what you are talking about. For me it was the best to approach RAU, they couldn't remember what my mode of instruction was but they gave me the Afr letter that I requested, I guessed the "Afrikaans" in the title of RAU also sealed it for the Aus officials. It worked.The other thing that you need to be aware of however is that if you are claiming points for English language proficiency as part of your application and you can prove your proficiency by a letter stating that you studied at an university and your studies were in English, even if it was at an traditional Afrikaans university (here I suspect RAU would not fare so well) I am sure you will not be able to claim the Afr points. Aussie officials don't get the bilingual thind I think. I say this because the reverse was true in my case. I had to claim the 5 points for Afr to pass the test - But although I thought I was well over the line with a letter stating that I studied at my first 2 universities in an English medium I still had to do the ENG proficiency test to prove that I could speak Eng. Thus if you claim you are Afr for the 5 points, you'd have to go and sit the IELTS test. They then instantly suspect that you are not able to also speak Eng . To take that further, if I had more points, say I was younger and got 5 extra points via my age, and I didn't claim the Afr 5 points, they would have accepted my Eng language proficiency via a letter form my university. Anyway I can understand their precautions, but if you are truly bilingual it does get a bit weird? Bilingual BUG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExASP Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 Hmm I agree Bug. I got my diploma at the Technikon Pretoria in the eighties and we all know that most courses were taught in Afrikaans. However they only accept letters from universities (or so i was told by our agent)...now that is strange..Does that mean that the course I did full time for four years Afrikaans is inferior to one that is done at a uni? On the other hand, when we applied for our visa..our agent said to say that our first language was English so as not to go and do the english test, which of course saved us a bit of money. But because of our Visa class the points system didnt apply to us and we didnt need the Afrikaans points. BUT I always wondered about that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 (edited) Weirdly enough, we got the points both for Afrikaans (as stated above) and English proficiency (without doing an IELTS test). For the English, we got a letter from the uni in England where hubbie had done his post-graduate architects' qualifications that he had studied there (in English, obviously!), as well as the one (University of Natal) where he had done them in SA (also in English). This seemed to have done the trick, as we were never asked for any further proof (and saved quite a bit of money and aggro on the IELTS!!!). Edited July 22, 2006 by Annette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJV Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 (edited) Thus if you claim you are Afr for the 5 points, you'd have to go and sit the IELTS test.Hi Bilingual BUG As pointed out by Annete's post this is not generally the case. Keep in mind that the case officers sometimes exercise some "discretion". For General Skilled Migration - in the case of [20] points for "Competent English" - DIMA now don't regard any South African citizen to be a "native English speaker". Thus, if you need the 20 points here, achieving the required band score in IELTS is the only route.However, if you only need the 15 points on offer for "Vocational English", a lower band score in IELTS would suffice. Edited July 24, 2006 by JJV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterbug Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 Hi JJV,So to clarify - what you are saying is that either way you have to go and do the IELTS test (for vocational or competent english), not just because you are claiming Afr as your mother tongue? So even SA people who are not able to speak Afr are considered not to be "English" (according to Australia), even if they were educated in English at an English South African Varsity?This just does not sound right. Sheez looks like they are tightening the screws!. May I ask where you obtained this info?Thanks Chatterbox (as I have been called lately - good one!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 Hi there. Was just wondering. If I want to apply for PR in Aus as a NZ citizen, would I need the 5 points for Afrikaans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJV Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 This just does not sound right. Sheez looks like they are tightening the screws!. May I ask where you obtained this info?Hi ChatterboxFor the answer to your question wrt Native English speaking interpretation by DIMA please follow this link courtesy of George Lombard (registered migration agent)DIMA's Booklet 6 covers the requirements for the English points. The most recent edition (design date 07/06) has now dropped the earlier provision (design date 03/06) where one could obtain "Vocational" English points having undertaken post-secondary studies at an institution where all instruction was in English.They are definitely tightening the screws! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annette Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Aha - that link explains things well, JJV. It's because we have British passports that we did not have to do the IELTS test. I had heard a rumour that this is the case, but never seen it black on white.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterbug Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Hi JJV - Thanks for that link - I think it is shocking though and smacks of arrogance! I think the average native born english speaker in South African is just as good if not better than those other "english hogging" countries mentioned. I understand why they do it - its probably easier to police administratively, but still a shocker nonetheless. I think your average Boertjie spokes the tale betterder than someone like Bush for example! Now that is another topic that I'll not go into......Bemoerde BUG! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamcatcher Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 You are right about the boertjies Bug, but what about the rest of the SA piepul? Dey not alaways speaka so nice....Greetings,Dreamy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExASP Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 to Bug and dreamy...I do agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindylou Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 HiHere's the link on the DIMA website for the exact requirements for English language. Just thought I'd pop it in as it also makes mention of the requirements for all family members over 18, so your spouse also has to sit the test.CheersC'Lou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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