An Irish rower who is fighting to become an Australian citizen in time for the Rio Paralympics is being held back by an English test.

Perth mechanic Kevin Wall, 30, has cerebral palsy — a condition which affects his coordination on land but has little impact on his grace on the water.

The Irishman first came to Australia in 2011 on a tourist visa but now wants to stay and represent his adopted home at next year's Paralympic Games.

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To become an Australian citizen in time, he first has to obtain a permanent residency visa, which requires him to prove he is "proficient" in English through a four-part exam known as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Mr Wall has sat the test three times and failed to reach the "proficient" standard each time on a different element — reading, writing and listening.

"I've been practising English about 29-and-a-half years at this stage," he told 7.30.

"I would've thought that I mightn't be up to the level of a senior graduate at Cambridge college or something, but I think I've got a proficient use of the language."

He said he was surprised the biggest hurdle had not been the gruelling training schedule or his disability, but a test of his first and only language.

"It blows my mind that something that I would think trivial in my whole story holds me back from something I've been aiming for for the past five or six years," he said.

Test is 'almost like extortion'

Mr Wall's migration agent Richard Coates said it was common for tradespeople from Great Britain to struggle to meet the level of English demanded by the IELTS test.

"On average I would say 90 per cent of the skilled area would be deficient on one of the bands. It's demeaning to them personally," Mr Coates told 7.30.

"Also, it's degrading to them on a level that they feel that because they come from an English-speaking background that they should be able to achieve any level of English.

"It's also expensive, at around $330 per sitting. It can rise to an average fee of $2,000 before a client achieves what they need to achieve.

"This is almost like extortion from the IELTS test requirements."

One of the inventors of the test, linguist Dr David Ingram, said he was not surprised some English speakers were failing.

He said the test was never meant to be used as an immigration tool.

"It concerns me greatly. It was not developed for that purpose, and as a person who's spent a lot of his life working in the area of testing, it seems to me that it is unethical to be using tests that have been developed for one purpose for another," Dr Ingram told 7.30.

Dr Ingram has written a submission to a Productivity Commission inquiry into Australia's migrant intake, warning of a skills shortage unless skilled migrants are able to choose between a wider range of tests.

Kevin Wall has been practicing English about 29 and a half years at this stage. ( Supplied: Glyn Jones )

He said tests needed to be "more appropriate to their language experience and their language needs, in other words, more appropriate to the real language they have and the real language that they're going to need".

The Immigration Department declined an interview but told 7.30 there were three other types of English tests applicants could sit.

The Department said IELTS was also used by Canada and the United Kingdom for immigration purposes.

Mr Wall is continuing to train for his goal and will sit the test again soon.

"Someone told me a long time ago, 'Don't give up on something that you can't go 24 hours without thinking about'," he said.

"For Australia to embrace me as a citizen and hopefully have a chance to be on the Australian squad, it's my goal.

"I'm very passionate about my sport and for me the ultimate in all my goals is to represent this country next year."

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