Which English Test Do I Need for My UK Visa? Route, CEFR Level and Approved Test

The short answer: route, level, skills, provider

Your UK visa route decides three things: the CEFR level you must reach, whether you are tested on speaking and listening only or on all four skills, and which providers you can book. The table below is built from the GOV.UK SELT guidance (updated 12 October 2026), the GOV.UK family visa and Skilled Worker guides, and Appendix English Language (updated 8 October 2026). Nothing else is added.

The nine four-skills routes named on the GOV.UK SELT page are Health and Care Worker, High Potential Individual, Innovator Founder, Minister of Religion, Scale-up Worker, Skilled Worker, Start-up, Student and Temporary Work International Agreement. The six speaking and listening routes are citizenship, International Sportsperson, parent, partner, Representative of an Overseas Business and settlement. If your route is in the second list, you will never be asked to write anything in the test.

Partner and parent: A1, then A2, then B1

This is the route for a wife or husband joining a partner in Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester or east London, or a parent of a British child. The GOV.UK family visa guide sets out a ladder.

First application: A1

GOV.UK says you "must pass at least level A1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale" in speaking and listening, with a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider. A1 is the lowest level a SELT tests. You are expected to introduce yourself, answer simple questions about your family, home, job and daily routine, and ask a simple question back. Our practice bank has fifteen A1 questions with model answers written by TalkDrill.

Extension after 2.5 years: A2

If your first pass was A1, GOV.UK says you need "at least level A2 in speaking and listening" when you extend. If you passed A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2 the first time, you can use the same result again, provided the provider has not withdrawn the certificate. Note the wording: the family guide's reuse sentence names withdrawal as the condition and does not mention the two-year limit. If your earlier pass is more than two years old, read the GOV.UK family members guidance that the page links to before you rely on it. Keep the reference number safe.

Settlement after 5 years: B1

GOV.UK: "If you pass level B1 or higher, you can use your test result again when you apply for settlement after 5 years." It adds that the test "still needs to be on the approved list of qualifications" and the certificate "must not have been withdrawn by the test provider". So a B1 pass at the start covers all three stages. One caution, dated: Trinity's SELT page says most settlement applicants will need B2 speaking and listening from 26 March 2027, and Appendix English Language already contains the "on or after 26 March 2027 ... B2" wording. Whether a B1 pass accepted at the first visa stage will still be reusable for settlement after that date is not spelled out on the pages we read. The B1 to B2 page tracks this and is updated weekly.

Settlement and citizenship: B1 today, B2 for most settlement from 26 March 2027

For indefinite leave to remain and for naturalisation, the GOV.UK english-language guide says you need "an English qualification at B1, B2, C1 or C2 level" or a degree taught or researched in English, unless you are exempt. The qualification must be a SELT in speaking and listening at B1 or above. GOV.UK adds that your application "will be refused if you send the wrong qualifications", so a college ESOL certificate that is not on the SELT list is a real risk.

Two dated facts now sit on top of that. First, HC 1333 raised the work routes to B2 from 8 January 2026, but that is a four-skills rule for first grants and does not touch settlement. Second, per Trinity's SELT page and Appendix English Language, settlement moves to B2 speaking and listening for most routes from 26 March 2027. Trinity names three routes that stay at B1: BN(O), HM Armed Forces and Domestic Worker in a private household. Appendix English Language EL 1.1(d) uses the same date in its fifteen-year exemption for partners, parents and dependent children over 18: a teacher's statement that the applicant is "unlikely to attain B1 level through further study" before 26 March 2027 becomes "unlikely to attain B2 level" on or after it. We say "per Trinity's SELT page and Appendix English Language" because no GOV.UK guide page states the settlement B2 rule in plain words yet.

Citizenship sits under nationality law, not the Immigration Rules: Appendix English Language does not list it among the routes it covers. No page we read on 20 or 21 October 2026 moves it to B2. If you are applying for citizenship in 2027 or later, read the GOV.UK english-language guide on the day you book.

Skilled Worker, Health and Care, students: four skills

Work routes are different in two ways: the level is higher and all four skills are tested. The GOV.UK Skilled Worker guide says you "must prove you can read, write, speak and understand English to at least level B2". The explanatory memorandum to HC 1333 (14 October 2025) explains the change: the requirement for Skilled Worker, High Potential Individual and Scale-up "is increased from B1 Level to B2 Level", applying to "those seeking an initial grant of leave in a relevant route" from 8 January 2026. Those who already held permission at B1 "will continue to be subject to a B1 level requirement where they are seeking an extension on the same route".

GOV.UK also lists four ways to meet the Skilled Worker requirement without a SELT: a GCSE, A level, Scottish National 4 or 5, Higher or Advanced Higher in English from a UK school that you began when you were under 18; a degree-level qualification taught in English and awarded by a UK institution; a non-UK degree confirmed by Ecctis as taught in English; and, for doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives and vets, an English assessment already accepted by the regulator. A nurse whose English test result the NMC accepted for registration therefore does not need a SELT for the visa. The exemptions page lists the evidence for each.

Students: Appendix English Language EL 8 lets a higher education provider assess B2 itself for degree-level study and record it on the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies, so most university applicants never see a SELT. Below degree level, the Trinity and ielts.org route tables list B1 on a four-skills test.

Which provider: in the UK and outside the UK

Per the GOV.UK SELT guidance, the approved providers in the UK are Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson. Outside the UK they are PSI Services (UK) Ltd, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson. Two consequences follow. Trinity is only available in the UK, so a partner applying from Lahore, Sylhet or Lagos cannot book GESE. Skills for English is only available outside the UK, so a settlement applicant in Leicester cannot book it. GOV.UK also lists the exact test names that count: "Secure English Language Tests for UKVI (ISE or GESE)", "IELTS for UKVI or IELTS Life Skills", "LanguageCert International ESOL SELT, Academic SELT or General SELT", "PTE Academic UKVI or PTE Home" and "Skills for English UKVI".

How to choose, in our judgement: if you are in the UK and want a human examiner and a result by the next morning, Trinity GESE. If you are outside the UK and want speed, PTE Home. If you are nervous of microphones and want to talk to a person, IELTS Life Skills (examiner in the room, with one other candidate) or, in the UK, Trinity (examiner by video link). If you are in India and price matters, compare LanguageCert's INR 14,040 with the local PTE Home and IELTS Life Skills fees on our fees and centres page. The provider pages, with the formats in detail, are the Trinity GESE page, the IELTS Life Skills page, the PTE Home page and the LanguageCert and Skills for English page.

What counts as a SELT, and what does not

A SELT is a test taken with one of the approved providers, at an approved centre on the GOV.UK lists, under Home Office security rules. The provider gives you a reference number (Trinity calls it a UER, IELTS a UKVI number, LanguageCert a Candidate URN, Pearson a SELT URN, PSI a URN, per GOV.UK) and the Home Office checks the result "using the SELT online verification system provided by each approved SELT test provider". Per the GOV.UK SELT page, "test results are valid for 2 years from the date the test is awarded". Appendix English Language EL 6.1 says the same from the other side: the pass must fall within the two years before your application date.

What is not a SELT: an IELTS Academic taken at an ordinary centre rather than an IELTS for UKVI centre; any online or at-home test (ielts.org states that UKVI "will only accept tests taken in person", and LanguageCert's SELT site shows centre delivery only); a GCSE, A level or NVQ (for settlement and citizenship the GOV.UK guide says "You cannot use other qualifications, for example GCSEs, A levels or National Vocational Qualifications", although Appendix English Language EL 2.4 and EL 7.1 accept a UK-school GCSE or A level in English for some settlement routes, as the exemptions page explains); and a college ESOL certificate unless it is on the approved SELT list. People searching "ESOL Entry 3 vs B1" should read that last line twice. ESOL Entry 3 maps to B1 on the national framework, but GOV.UK says you "can only use ESOL qualifications if they're on the list of approved SELTs". A college ESOL certificate that is not on that list does not count, whatever level it maps to. The exception is narrow: Appendix English Language EL 1.1(d) exempts, at settlement, a partner, parent or dependent child over 18 with fifteen continuous years in the UK with permission who holds an A2 speaking and listening qualification or ESOL Entry Level 2 (or SCQF level 3), plus a teacher's confirmation of at least 75 guided learning hours in the previous twelve months and a statement that they are unlikely to reach the next level. The exemptions page explains it.

Check the level on the day you book, then practise

Two changes fall about fifteen months apart (8 January 2026, in force, and 26 March 2027, announced) and the GOV.UK SELT page was last edited on 12 October 2026. So the routine is: open the GOV.UK page for your route, read the level, then book. Do not take the level from a centre's receptionist, an agent or a WhatsApp group. If you are applying for settlement in the first half of 2027, decide now whether you will submit before 26 March 2027 with a B1 pass or prepare for B2; the B1 to B2 page has a dated decision box.

Then practise the test you actually booked. All five speaking and listening tests ask the same kinds of questions at A1 and A2: your name, where you live, your family, your job or housework, your daily routine, shopping, travel, the weather, your plans. At B1 they add opinions and reasons. The format differs: Trinity wants a prepared topic, IELTS Life Skills pairs you with another candidate (and offers A2 only in the UK, per ielts.org), PTE Home and Skills for English record you through a microphone. Our two-week roadmap has a day-by-day plan for each. For the speaking itself, use the AI mock interview and set it to simple personal questions: it asks, listens, and asks a second question the way the examiner does, which is the listening check a prepared speech cannot cover. Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi speakers should also read the first-language page, because v/w and p/f habits that nobody notices at home can make a short answer hard to follow.

Official sources for this page: the GOV.UK SELT guidance, the family visa knowledge of English page, the Skilled Worker knowledge of English page, the english-language guide for citizenship and settlement, Appendix English Language and Trinity's SELT page. Dates for every exam we track are on the exam dates calendar.