On 20 February 2015, the UK government announced important changes to Secure English Language Tests (SELT) for visa purposes.
If you make a visa application to stay or move to the UK, you need to be aware of changes made by United Kingdom Visas & Immigration (UKVI).
For more information on the UK Visas and Immigration, please visit www.gov.uk.
What are the changes?
If you are going to or staying in the UK, there is an IELTS test for you.
In addition to the IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic tests, which you may already know of, a new test called IELTS Life Skills will be introduced.
IELTS Life Skills test will be introduced for candidates who need to prove their speaking and listening skills at levels A1 or B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This will be a single test covering speaking and listening skills.
IELTS tests for UK Visas and Immigration are managed by the IELTS SELT Consortium, which comprises British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment.
When will this change take place?
The change in the UK government policy is effective from 6 April 2015.
Register for UK Visas and Immigration and IELTS Life Skills
The IELTS Test Partners have opened the registration system for the permanent test locations selected by the UK government.
These will be supplemented by additional locations, referred to as “pop-up” locations, selected by the UK government. IELTS for UKVI and IELTS Life Skills in these pop-up locations will usually be made available on a quarterly basis where there is demand. Registration at many of these locations will be available from Monday, 20 April 2015 (UK time).
Are you entering a bachelor degree or higher in the UK?
UKVI has confirmed these changes do not affect you if you are entering directly at degree level or higher at an institution in the UK listed as Tier 4 Sponsors (previously known as Highly Trusted Sponsors). UK universities currently choose their own method of testing students’ English language ability and this will not change. See “Tier 4 Student Visa” below.
Tier 4 Student Visa (without a presessional)
People who are applying for a Tier 4 student visa to a university that is a Tier 4 Sponsor to study for a bachelor or postgraduate degree are required to meet the English language level set by the institution. All British universities and colleges accept IELTS results. Tier 4 Student Visa applicants can apply to the UK universities listed here with an IELTS result from any of the 1,000 IELTS test locations worldwide unless the institution has additional requirements.
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