English language bar set too high for skilled migrants

Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Simon Laurent is chairman of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment.

OPINION: New Zealand has a long and shameful history of immigration policies that have discriminated against people from non-Anglo-centric countries.

For much of the 20th century our post-colonial 'White New Zealand' policy openly favoured migrants from nations such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United States. One of the principal tools for enforcing this racial and cultural bias was — and continues to be — how well they spoke English.

While racial quotas are a relic of our colonial past, the legacy of discrimination remains embedded in our current immigration system. And nowhere is this more evident than in the language requirements for permanent residence under the Skilled Migrant Category. The settings today are, irrefutably, too high.

As an example, a Canadian citizen from Quebec, who has been educated in Quebecois French, is exempt from proving their English skills whereas a Fijian or South African applicant, educated entirely in English, is still required to sit and pass a high-level English language test.

The glaring inconsistency raises a troubling question: is English language proficiency a genuine measure of a migrant’s ability to settle in New Zealand, or is it a proxy for keeping out people from non-Anglo-centric countries?

What is certain is that using language as a filter has been inconsistent over time.

When it’s politically expedient or economically convenient, governments have waived these requirements altogether.

The South Island Contribution Visa, the Investor Plus Visa, and most notably the 2021 Resident Visa, under which 213,000 people received residence, all bypassed the English language test, with no evidence of poor settlement outcomes as a result.

This begs the question: if we can waive the requirement in some visa categories, why do we maintain such high thresholds elsewhere?

The current International English Language Testing System (IELTS) requirement for Skilled Migrant Residence is higher than that needed for international students to enter undergraduate study at University of Auckland. A Skilled Migrant applicant from a non-Anglo-centric country must have a current test score at or above 6.5, whereas the University of Auckland requires students from countries that are not from a predominantly English speaking country to provide a current test score at or above 6.0 for entry into a Bachelor of Arts degree programme.

The requirement also surpasses the language standards required for enrolment in trades-based qualifications approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, which are typically set at a minimum of IELTS 5.0. For many prospective migrants — especially those from non-Anglo-centric countries — this sets an unreasonable and unnecessary barrier.

If we are serious about equity and about selecting migrants based on their potential to contribute, rather than their country of origin, then our language requirements must reflect that.

A fairer and more rational approach would be to expand the list of countries whose citizens are deemed to meet English language requirements based on education or work history — using, for instance, the University of Auckland’s list of predominantly English-speaking countries.

For others, it is difficult to justify setting a higher English threshold than IELTS 5.0 for principal applicants — a level that indicates partial command of English, sufficient for basic communication and day-to-day life. Over time many such migrants will improve their English fluency through living and working in New Zealand, just as many earlier generations of migrants did.

Secondary applicants — often spouses or dependants — could reasonably be held to a lower standard - say IELTS 4.0 - in line with what is already accepted for lower-skilled work visa categories. Where needed, they should have access to pre-purchased English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) tuition to help them integrate successfully.

New Zealand's immigration policy is, by its nature, selective — but it should not be exclusionary based on language standards which are neither necessary nor proportionate. If we continue to set unreasonably high English language benchmarks, we risk continuing a quiet, modern form of the discriminatory practices we claim to have left behind.

The New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment wants the Government to change these settings, ending discrimination against applicants from non-English speaking backgrounds who might otherwise make a material contribution to New Zealand.

It’s time to ensure our immigration rules reflect fairness, not old colonial prejudices..