An IELTS candidate who achieves a score of is described as being a ‘good user’ of English, someone who ‘[h]as operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations’ (International English Language Testing System, 2009, p 3). As previously noted, since this research was conducted, DIAC has changed the points system for the Skilled Independent Residence Visa subclass 885. To gain maximum points for English language proficiency, candidates now need an Overall score of , with in all components; in other words, the candidate should be ‘a very good user’ of English
