Dr Louise Kennedy, a native English speaking veterinarian who hails from Ireland and holds two degrees obtained in English, has been working in Australia for two years as an equine veterinarian.
Earlier this year the pregnant mother, who's married to an Australian and lives on the Sunshine Coast, applied for a skilled migrant visa.
The veterinarian profession is on the Australian Government's skilled occupation list. There's currently a shortage of equine vets, particularly in Queensland.
But she says to her shock, she did not gain enough points in the English oral test component to obtain her visa.
"It was such a shock," she told SBS World News. "It's the only exam I’ve ever gone into not being nervous about.
“It's taken about two-and-a-half years to get to this point because as a vet you've also got to prove your skills as a vet, so I’ve done all of that – that takes about two years – and then to not get it from English is just so frustrating."
Skilled migrant says other English-speaking applicants have failed the test
Dr Kennedy undertook the computer-based Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic), which was approved by the Australian Government’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection in 2014, and uses voice recognition technology.
She says the company told her she could re-sit the test for free at the next available appointment in five weeks, but adds her current visa may expire by the time the skilled-migration visa is processed.
Instead, she is applying for a spousal visa and plans to continue working as an equine vet.
"We're due a baby in 12 weeks so at least I’ll be able to stay here with my husband and baby."
Sasha Hampson, the head of Pearson in the Asia Pacific, says while company will not comment on individual cases, the technology it uses is sound.
"There continues to be ongoing research conducted both internally and externally to validate and quality assure PTE Academic," she told SBS World News.
Ms Hampson says Pearson is confident its technology is sound.
"Comparing data published by some of the other major English tests recognised by government bodies and Higher Education Institutions, PTE Academic has the highest reliability estimates for both the overall score and the communicative skills scores based on the SEM of all the major academic English tests," she said.
The company assessed responses from more than 10,000 candidates from more than 120 different language groups. For the speaking component nearly 400,000 responses were collected and marked by human raters.
Ms Hampson says Pearson uses an automated system to prevent examiners making human errors.
"It is indifferent to a test taker’s appearance and personality, and is not affected by human errors due to examiner tiredness, mood, etc.
"Such impartiality means that test takers can be confident that they are being judged solely on their language performance."
A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection told SBS World News it "is not involved in the administration or operation of the English language tests".
The spokesperson said the individuals can request to have their score reviewed by the provider, and "the providers are required to meet a range of standards and benchmarks".
"The Department has not been made aware of any other complaints regarding voice recognition technology used by English language test providers.
"PTE Academic is the only English language test provider accepted by the Department using voice recognition technology."
