189 Visa - Spouse Language Requirement

[benthomas010]

Good Morning,

 

We will be applying for our 189 visa's later on this year, with me as the main applicant. Part of my requirement is that I get at least level 8's across the board in the IELTS academic test.

 

The complication comes, in that whilst I am English, my wife is Indonesian. When we started looking at this last year, her visa was free as long as she passed an IELTS at level 3 or above, failure to do this would mean we had to pay for her visa.

 

Since the pricing change last year though, we have to pay for her visa anyway - and I cannot find any reference to a requirement for her to prove english language ability anymore.

 

Does anybody know if this requirement has been removed? To me it seem's daft, personally I think its right that we prove her ability to speak English as we had to when she came to England. (I didn't agree with being able to pay to get out of it previously). But... if she doesn't need to take a test, we won't bother.

 

Thanks

Ben

[xlornax]

Yes she will...I think its a score of at least 6 she needs in ielts and if cant get that you need to pay extra with visa fee..its on immi website

[lebourvellec]

What has changed is that you now need to pay for each additional applicant on a visa application.

 

Your wife will still need to prove functional English - one way if proving functional English is by scoring an overall 4.5 on the IELTS test, the test needs to be less than 12 months old. http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/functional-english/

 

If your wife can not prove functional English the 2nd VAC of around $4500 would apply to be able to get the visa.

 

The additional applicant fee and 2nd VAC are 2 seperate charges.

[kirksummers]

hi there

 

I have just applied for my 189 visa and paid for it, for myself my wife and 2 daughters under 18

 

I didn't think my wife needed to do ielts? we are both English, I am the main applicant and I have passed my ielts with 8.5 overall

 

am I right or wrong in thinking my wife doesn't need t do ielts???

 

thanks, kirk

[spangley]

My wife is German, and she took her IELTS test in Zurich yesterday. She needs to achieve 4.5 points to avoid us having to stump up English language training costs for when we arrive in Aus. I'm confident she'll get the required points.

 

Get your wife to do some of the mock exam tests on the IELTS website. This helps familiarise and reduce any nerves before the actual test.

[lebourvellec]

hi there

 

I have just applied for my 189 visa and paid for it, for myself my wife and 2 daughters under 18

 

I didn't think my wife needed to do ielts? we are both English, I am the main applicant and I have passed my ielts with 8.5 overall

 

am I right or wrong in thinking my wife doesn't need t do ielts???

 

thanks, kirk

No she will not need IELTS as her first language is English and hold a uk passport.

[Alnaibii]

 

Does anybody know if this requirement has been removed? To me it seem's daft, personally I think its right that we prove her ability to speak English as we had to when she came to England. (I didn't agree with being able to pay to get out of it previously). But... if she doesn't need to take a test, we won't bother.

 

 

If she doesn't hold a UK passport, she needs to sit IELTS and get an overall band score of 4.5.

The second installment of $4850, that you need to pay if she doesn't get that score, is not a pay to get out of it, it's the cost of the English classes she will need to attend once in Australia.