Labour’s immigration spokesperson Phil Twyford is signalling his party could turn a simmering dispute over English-language tests for migrant drivers into an election pledge, pitting Labour against the National-led government’s hard line on language standards.

Twyford told Awaaz he would like to see the Labour Party commit to a review of the "very, very high" English language requirement for drivers applying for residence.

"Labour’s policy development is still underway and we will be making announcements on our manifesto policy in the course of this year," he says.

A review of the setting would potentially explore aligning the requirement with a lower IELTS score, Twyford says, or replacing IELTS entirely with something better suited to frontline driver roles.

The flashpoint is the post‑graduate English bar that migrant bus and truck drivers must clear to secure residence. They currently need a 6.5 on the IELTS test, or meet equivalent scores in tests such as TOEFL iBT (79), PTE Academic (58), B2 First (176) or OET (Grade B). 

Twyford says this threshold is equivalent to top-tier essay writing. He points out the standard bears no relation to what drivers need on the job since "these drivers speak perfectly good conversational English".

"I am in touch with more than 460 migrant bus and truck drivers who are affected by this issue. They came in the knowledge they would be eligible but I don’t think anyone explained the fine print requirement of meeting IELTS 6.5," he says.

One of the options would be a carve-out for this occupational group, Twyford says, but the predicament of these drivers raises the bigger issue of whether IELTSS 6.5 is a logical and appropriate requirement.

In January this year, at least 500 bus drivers, many recruited from Fiji, India and the Philippines to fill shortages after the Covid pandemic, petitioned Parliament to lower the bar. Twyford stood alongside them and branded the rule "discriminatory" and "impractical", saying the country risked cancelling bus services and stalling freight if the drivers were pushed home.

Twyford's indication Labour is actively considering making this a manifesto pitch could add to the pressure the transport industry is already exerting on the government. The Bus and Coach Association warns a fifth of New Zealand’s public-transport drivers could be forced out within two years if the standard stands, triggering service cuts just as councils try to rebuild patronage.

Immigration minister Erica Stanford has repeatedly rejected those pleas. Last October, she told RNZ operators should recruit New Zealanders instead. Then in January, she insisted the IELTS requirement "has been exactly the same for many, many, many, many, many years" and that drivers have ample time on their visas to meet it.

"We’re not looking to change it," she said. That refusal has opened a political lane for Labour. Twyford says he doesn't want to "see us lose these drivers". "We should be ensuring they have a pathway to residence, not putting this big obstacle in their way."