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Visa requirements in Australia just a little tougher. Foreign partners of existing residents who want a permanent residence visa must soon have to an English language test. Australia's government says it is important that people a predetermined level of English proficiency before they are a permanent visa. The prerequisite could in place from the middle of 2021. Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said: "We will an applicant and a sponsor to have a functional level of English or to have at least reasonable efforts to English." He said such efforts would about 500 hours of free English classes on a government-run language programme.

The proposed requirement has controversy in Australia's parliament. Politicians critical of the planned measure the new language test "discriminatory" and "racist". They it targets people from non-Western nations and their partners. A spokesman for Australia's opposition party said: "English proficiency isn't a test of someone's love." He said couples already an uphill struggle in the application process and that the new requirement would an "additional burden". An immigration expert said: "It certainly a lot of pressure on couples who've been hard by COVID. Many of them have their jobs and now they've this added burden to an English test."