The BBC’s Panorama programme found the TOEIC test used for UK visa applications was being faked for candidates.
In one instance, entire rooms of students were shown having the tests completed for them and agents seen helping candidates gain a passing mark – in exchange for a fee.
Home secretary Theresa May told the BBC that detecting visa fraud didn’t just need structural change but cultural change.
She added: “And frankly I’m afraid over time the education sector has consistently objected to the changes that we have been making.
“But I think what we see from this is that it actually needs to take some responsibility . . . [it] has got to stop complaining about the change and look at its own house and put its own house in order.”
But a spokesman for ETS, the company that runs the TOEIC test, saıd it maintained “one of the most thorough test security protocols in the world”.
“When testing on a global basis, no test provider can claim 100 per cent prevention or detection of fraudulent activity, but ETS does everything it can to detect and prevent rare instances of dishonest test administrators or test takers,” the spokesman added.
The Home Office’s suspension, which applies to ETS-run tests taken in the United Kingdom, will be in place until the end of March. Candidates will still be able to take the test outside the UK and use their grade to apply for a visa.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This investigation shows Theresa May is presiding over a failing immigration system which too often focuses on the wrong thing and where illegal immigration is a growing problem.”