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Is Lulu's English good enough? The immigration department is not convinced

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Lulu Jemimah speaks and writes English better than many Australians.

But the 30-year-old graduate is soon to be forced to return Uganda because, in the words of the decision maker at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, "I am not satisfied that the applicant has competent English".

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Is Lulu's English good enough?

Ugandan student Lulu Jemimah is being forced to leave Australia because of rigid migration laws covering proof of language skills.

Ms Jemimah's case is a striking example of why rigid and inflexible immigration laws do not always serve Australia's interest.

A university graduate, theatre producer, comedian and volunteer worker, Ms Jemimah is the victim of a simple paperwork oversight which has all but put her on a plane to Africa.

Administrative Appeals Tribunal member Mary Ann Cooper reluctantly said on Thursday that the law appeared "absurd" in this case, but that it did not permit her to overturn the Immigration Department's decision.

Without the minister's intervention, Ms Jemimah must leave the country in January.

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To be eligible for a 485 post-study visa, an applicant must have completed an Immigration Department-endorsed English test within 36 months of the date their application was lodged. In Ms Jemimah's case, she had easily passed the test 39 months before her application was sent.

What confused matters for Ms Jemimah was a letter of congratulations from Macquarie University's deputy vice chancellor Deidre Anderson, written in December last year, after the Ugandan student was awarded a Bachelor of Arts-Media degree.

"The attached letter communicates the completion of your qualification to a third party, for example the Department of Immigration and Border Protection or an employer. It also complies with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection requirement stating that the language of instruction is English," Ms Anderson wrote.

Ms Jemimah, who also had regular paid employment for some of her time in Australia, mistakenly believed this letter satisfied the Immigration Department's English requirements for her visa class and attached it to her visa application in February.

"And even then when they wrote to me and asked me for a [new] test, I did it, I passed it and I submitted it," Ms Jemimah said.

"But they said it wasn't enough, it had to be within the 36 months of applying for my visa."

So even though Ms Jemimah grew up speaking English in Uganda, had passed two English tests in 3½ years, completed a university degree in English and possessed a letter from a deputy vice chancellor endorsing her English skills, it wasn't enough to meet the Immigration Department's standards. .

"To date, no evidence has been received to show that the applicant undertaken [sic] an English test within the 36 months before the visa application date," the department official ruled.

"Therefore I am not satisfied that the applicant has competent English."

Tribunal member Ms Cooper told Ms Jemimah that even though her command of English was obvious, the Immigration Act was "fairly bluntly worded" and gave her "no discretion for compelling and compassionate reasons".

"I can see it [the law] can seem to operate in an absurd way in the context of your skills," Ms Cooper said.

Ms Cooper said the 36-month rule was designed to catch out people who had studied or were meant to by studying but had failed to reach a reasonable standard of English.

She cautiously advised Ms Jemimah to write to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to seek his intervention.

"I don't want to raise your hopes too much because he very rarely intervenes," Ms Cooper said.

Ms Jemimah could also apply for another visa but would have to do so from offshore.

A former journalist in Uganda and Rwanda, Ms Jemimah said she would appeal to Mr Dutton. She hoped Australia could consider introducing some flexibility in its English test requirements and wanted her case to serve as a warning to other migrants seeking to stay.

"I wouldn't mind going back home but the reason of the 485 [visa] is to give you a chance of professional growth in Australia where you have got your degree," she said.

"I'm producing a play that's going to be on in Feb[ruary]. I've been doing some stand up. I've been acting, and I feel that it's really unfortunate to kick me out on grounds that I don't have an English language test."

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