Immigration Solicitors

The ‘TOEIC’ (Test of English for International Communication) uproar began in 2014 when the SSHD (Secretary of State of the Home Department) made a decision to cancel particular individuals’ visas. These individuals had leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the grounds that they had obtained their English Language qualification certificate by means of fraud. The SSHD were only particularly interested in those who had sat the TOEIC examination.

The Secretary of State relied on BBC’s ‘Panorama’ who investigated the English Test Centres and found that individuals gained a ‘TOEIC’ through deception by using proxy test takers to undertake speaking and listening tests by impersonating the candidate and the provision by invigilators giving the correct answers for written tests.

TOEIC is a certification administered by the ETS (Educational Test Service). ETS is one of the largest English Testing organisations in the world. They assess around 50 million tests per annum. 200,000 student visas are issued in the UK annually with 1,700 approved government approved colleges. The Secretary of State investigated the grey area surrounding TOEIC and came to the conclusion that around 33,000 tests were seen as ‘invalid’ or ‘questionable’ tests relating to fraud. The SSHD never quite have not made it clear as to how they had come to this assessment and seldom provide individuals with evidence of fraud.

This led to thousands of migrants accused of fraudulently undertaking the English Language test and being forcibly removed or being denied a right of appeal.

However, on 26 October 2016, the appeal courts ruled against the Home Office as they continued to rely on hearsay evidence in the case of Qadir/SM (ETS/TOEIC) and were unable to rely on any expert evidence. The two witness statements (provided by Rebecca Collins and Peter Millington) are known as ‘generic evidence ’and have been used in all similar cases. They have now been dismissed by the court (Court Of Appeal) as lacking ‘qualification or expertise, vocational or otherwise, in the scientific matter of these appeals.’ These types of statements have been seen to be ‘fundamentally misconceived’.

Although the Home Office attempted to withdraw its own appeal from this most recent case, the court decided to pass a judgment and have asked the Home Office to come up with a policy regarding these cases.

As established in MA Pakistan [2016] UKUT 00450 (IAC), each case regarding TOEIC rests on its own facts and the evidential burden of proof is on the Home Office to provide evidence in relation to the matter.

If you are facing a refusal or removal on the basis of undertaken an allegedly fraudulent TOEIC test it is important that you provide as much evidence of your English language proficiency and evidence the fact that you genuinely attended and undertook the TOEIC test. We would encourage you to check with the Test Centre to ascertain whether they can confirm your attendance at your examination. Receipts or Bank statements which show that you paid for your TOEIC examination could also proof useful for you in building a case against the SSHD’s allegation that you had sat your test using a proxy.

The recent Qadir ruling does open up the gateway to the possibility of thousands of migrants winning their battle against the SSHD’s allegations of wrongdoing and may prove useful for decisions to be quashed and overturned.

Author Sasha Lal is a Caseworker in the Private Immigration team based in Harrow. Sasha specialises in applications under the Points Based System and also deals with immigration matters concerning EEA nationals.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors have a dedicated team of specialist immigration lawyers who handle all aspects of private immigration matters.

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If you have previously been refused leave or have been removed from the UK, on the basis of an allegation that you have undertaken a TOEIC test fraudulently please do not hesitate to contact Vicash Ramkissoon on 0203 144 1105 or alternatively email privateimmigration@duncanlewis.com and we will be able to discuss this or any issue further with you.