IELTS for UK visas: the level you need and how to reach it (2026)

The level is set by the route you apply on, so the first thing to settle is which route that is. GOV.UK publishes the level on each route's own guide, and the table below carries the link on every row. Where a route is not listed here, its level is on its own GOV.UK guide and not on the general secure English language test page, which says only that the level "will depend on the route you are applying for".

What the level means in IELTS bands

GOV.UK writes the requirement as a CEFR level, and the approved-test list is where that level is turned into a band. For IELTS for UKVI the list gives a minimum in each of the four components, and the figures are the same inside and outside the UK (GOV.UK, list of approved secure English language tests taken outside the UK, checked September 2026; the list for tests taken in the UK).

Two things follow from that table. The minimum is per component, so a strong reading score does not carry a weak writing score, and there is no overall band to hide behind. And the speaking-and-listening routes use a different test: IELTS Life Skills is graded Pass at A1, A2 and B1 rather than in bands, on the same list.

For the two routes most people arrive here for, Skilled Worker and Student at degree level, the level is B2, and on IELTS for UKVI the approved-test list sets that at 5.5 in every one of the four components.

IELTS for UKVI is booked separately because UKVI does not approve the IELTS exam in general; it approves named tests, sat at named locations, and reported through a verification system it can query. GOV.UK tells you to check the name on the booking: "You should make sure the test that you book is the one approved for SELT", and for the IELTS SELT Consortium that name is "IELTS for UKVI" or "IELTS Life Skills" (GOV.UK, find an approved test). Nothing else from that exam family appears on the list, and the same page says only the tests and test levels specified are approved.

Three things a UKVI booking gives you that an ordinary one does not

• An approved test location. A result counts only if it was "sat at an approved test location", and GOV.UK publishes the lists of approved centres inside and outside the UK, updated through the year (GOV.UK, approved test centres).
• An identity check tied to your passport. The details used to book must match the identity document you bring, GOV.UK says the document must be current, original and carry your photo, and if you cannot prove your identity you will not be allowed to take the test (GOV.UK, prove your identity on the day of the test).
• A SELT unique reference number. After you pass you are given one, and you must use it in your application; on IELTS SELT Consortium results it appears as the "UKVI number". You send no certificate, because results are checked through the provider's SELT online verification system (GOV.UK, after the test).

That last point is the practical reason an ordinary result fails. It is not that the questions are easier. It is that the result carries no UKVI number, so there is nothing for the caseworker to verify, and the test is not on the list the rules point at.

The one place an ordinary test can still be enough

If you are studying at degree level or above, your Higher Education Provider can assess your level of English itself, and GOV.UK notes that "they may ask you to do a different test", which must still be equivalent to CEFR level B2 (GOV.UK, Student visa, knowledge of English). That is the university's decision, not a general exemption, so ask the admissions office in writing which test it will accept before you book anything.

Booking, and what GOV.UK warns about

You book on the provider's own website rather than with the centre: GOV.UK says to check the provider's website for availability and "Do not contact the test centre directly". You should be able to take a test within 28 days of booking, though not always at the location nearest you, and if there is no approved test location in your country you will have to travel to another country to take it (GOV.UK, book an English language test). If you book through a third party, GOV.UK asks you to confirm that they are officially recognised by the test provider and that their fees are the same as, or lower than, the price on the provider's own website.

The approved list names one four-skill IELTS test, “IELTS for UKVI”, and does not split it into Academic and General Training, so either version satisfies UKVI. A university or an employer may still specify one of them, so ask them before you book.

Book the test by its exact name. A result from an ordinary IELTS sitting is not on the approved list and carries no UKVI number, and for most routes that is the end of the matter.

Liguastic marks the two skills you produce, writing and speaking, measures reading against the clock, and measures listening at placement before you practise it from a clip bank. Each skill below is written as what happens, with its limit in the same paragraph. The method behind every figure is on how scoring works.

Writing: 5.5 for B2, 4.0 for B1

You hand in a Task 2 answer and it comes back marked on four criteria, in half bands on IELTS and as a CEFR level on General English, with up to six corrections that quote your own words and one next focus. You can rewrite it, and the second draft is compared with the first so you can see which flagged problems went away. Practice writing is Task 2 only; Task 1 appears once, in the placement. Corrections on essays go to your notebook to re-read rather than into the spaced review queue, which is reserved for lesson, practice and placement misses at 1, 3, 7 and 21 days. See writing feedback.

Speaking: 5.5 for B2, 4.0 for B1

You get a Part 2 cue card, record your answer in the browser, and pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and grammar come back scored from the recording. Part 1 appears only in the placement, and Part 3 is not covered anywhere, so the longer discussion questions that close a real interview are not something you can rehearse here. See speaking practice.

Reading: 5.5 for B2, 4.0 for B1

Reading is a timed mock: one passage, up to ten multiple-choice questions, fifteen minutes, scored on a fixed ratio ladder running 2.5 to 9 that every track shares. That makes it a reading-accuracy estimate rather than an IELTS score, and it is worth reading it as a direction of travel. Exam Day puts the reading mock and a timed essay under the clock together, with no pausing and one combined estimate, which is the closest thing on the platform to sitting something whole. There is no full four-section mock.

Listening: 5.5 for B2, 4.0 for B1

Listening is measured at placement, and afterwards you draw an approved clip at your own level: play it as many times as you like, answers are marked on the server, and the transcript is released afterwards. It is not taught as a course, it does not move your level, and because every clip is human-approved rather than generated, the bank can run out and says so. If listening is the component sitting under your route's level, budget for material from your test provider as well, and decide that early. The paid Advanced Listening module is still coming soon and cannot be bought.

Two skills marked from what you produce, one measured against the clock, one measured and then practised from a finite bank, and a plan written from the placement rather than picked off a menu.

Liguastic publishes no figure for how long a level takes, because there is not an honest one to publish. How long it takes depends on where the placement finds you, how far each skill sits from the level your route asks for, and how much you write and record each week. What the platform does instead is project the plan forward and report whether it finishes before, on or after the test date you gave.

The clock that is not yours to set

The real deadline on a visa application is the two-year window: the result has to have been awarded in the two years before the date you apply (GOV.UK, find an approved test). Sitting the test very early can mean sitting it twice. Working backwards from the date you expect to apply, rather than from the date you feel ready, is the one piece of planning that costs nothing.

What the placement decides

The placement returns a CEFR level per skill, names the skills it could not grade rather than leaving them blank, and includes two recorded speaking turns scored from the audio. Your level is set by that placement; finishing lessons never moves it. The plan is then written from those levels and, on the IELTS course, from the target band and any test date you gave. One step is open at a time. You can swap a step's skill or add one after it, but you cannot rearrange the plan.

How to read your estimates

One estimate is a single reading from our grader. Several in a row carry more: three essays over two weeks say more than one, and a run of recordings shows whether pronunciation or fluency is the figure that moves. Judge the trend, not the last number, and remember that the estimate is ours and the decision is the Home Office's.

Count back from the date you plan to apply, not from the date you feel ready, and hand in more than one of everything before you believe a number.

There are two costs, and only one of them is ours: the test, paid once per sitting to an approved provider, and the preparation, paid monthly or yearly to Liguastic through Creem.io.

The test

GOV.UK does not publish the fee for a secure English language test. It sends you to the provider offering the test you plan to take, and asks you to book through official channels: if you use a third party, check that they are officially recognised by the test provider and that their fees are the same as, or lower than, the price on the provider's own website (GOV.UK, book an English language test). Because the figure is set by the provider and by the country you sit in, this page does not print one; read it on the provider's site on the day you book. Budget for travel as well if there is no approved location in your country.

Liguastic

The IELTS course is 80.00 JOD a month with every finished add-on included, and paying yearly is 15% less. Prices are authored in Jordanian dinars and your card is charged the equivalent through Creem.io, which is the name that appears on your statement. Cancelling is two clicks in Settings, then Billing, and access runs to the end of the period you paid for. A new account starts with a free placement check and no card, and an unused first payment is refundable within 14 days, and a renewal you did not expect is refunded within 7 days if the service has not been used since. See pricing and the refund terms.

If a visa is not the reason you are here, General English is the cheaper course and carries no band at all: progress is CEFR movement and per-skill accuracy. It is the right course for someone whose route asks for A1 or A2 speaking and listening rather than a four-skill B2.

The test is paid per sitting to the provider, the preparation stops the month you cancel, and neither figure on this page is one you have to take on trust.

If one component falls short, the first question is whether your provider will let you sit that component again, and GOV.UK puts that question to the provider rather than answering it itself. Its wording is careful: "In certain circumstances, if you failed one component of the test, you may be allowed to sit that component again. You will need to check the test provider's terms and conditions before booking a test" (GOV.UK, find an approved test). So read those terms before you book, not after you miss.

The rule that catches people out

Where two or more components are examined and awarded together, GOV.UK requires that you show the required scores in all the relevant components "with the same test centre provider as part of the combined test assessment", from the same page. Read alongside the per-component minimums in the approved-test list, that is why a strong overall performance does not rescue one weak component.

How the plan reacts

Your CEFR level on Liguastic is set by the placement and does not move because a sitting went badly; your band estimate moves with every essay and recording you hand in. Keep handing in the component that was short and judge the run rather than the last figure. The AI tutor knows your level, your plan and the points you keep missing and can drill them in the chat, though it cannot rewrite the plan. If listening was the component that fell short, remember the clip bank is finite and not a course, and arrange other material as well.

Check your provider's terms on resitting a single component before you book the first sitting, and remember the two-year window applies to the result you finally use.

Before you buy anything, the limits, in the order they are likely to matter to a visa applicant.

• Nothing here is an official result. Every band and level is an estimate from our own grader, no examining body has reviewed any of them, and there is nowhere you can submit one. UKVI reads results through your provider's SELT verification system, and Liguastic is not in that system. See how scoring works.
• We are not an immigration adviser. This page reports what GOV.UK says and links every sentence to it. It cannot tell you which route to apply on, and it is not advice about your application.
• We cannot book or verify a test. The booking, the identity check, the centre and the unique reference number are all the provider's, and the reference number is what your application is checked against.
• Listening is practised, not taught. It is measured at placement, then practised from a bank of human-approved clips at your level, marked on the server with the transcript afterwards. It never moves your level, and the bank can run out.
• TOEFL is not open to new learners. The IELTS course is, and General English carries no band at all.

Everything the site says it never does is written on the about page, at the same size as the offer.

Every requirement on this page was read on GOV.UK on 6 September 2026, and every claim about Liguastic against the product and the pages linked below. No figure here is one we made up: Liguastic publishes no ratings, review counts or testimonials of its own, and none appear on this page.

UK Visas and Immigration

• Prove your English language abilities with a secure English language test (SELT): which routes need which shape of test, approved providers, approved locations, booking, identity, validity and the unique reference number. Last updated on GOV.UK on 28 August 2026, checked 6 September 2026.
• List of approved secure English language tests taken outside the UK and the list for tests taken in the UK: the CEFR level and the minimum grade for each approved test, checked 6 September 2026.
• Skilled Worker visa: knowledge of English, Health and Care Worker visa, Student visa, High Potential Individual visa, Innovator Founder visa, Scale-up Worker visa and Minister of Religion visa: the level each route asks for.
• UK family visa: knowledge of English and Prove your knowledge of English for citizenship or settling in the UK, with proving it with a test and who does not need to prove it.

Liguastic sources

• How scoring works: what is measured, what is not, and where the method is weaker
• The IELTS course and the method
• Pricing and refunds and cancellation
• About: the promises the site holds itself to

Method

1. Read the requiring body's own pages, never an agency summary, a forum or a coaching site.
2. Put the link in the sentence that states the figure, so a reader can check one claim without reading a source list.
3. State no figure that the body does not publish. GOV.UK publishes no test fee, so this page prints none.
4. Re-read every requirement on each refresh and move the date at the top of the page.

If anything here is wrong or out of date, write to hello@liguastic.com and we will check it against GOV.UK and correct the page.

IELTS® and TOEFL® are registered trademarks of their respective owners. Liguastic is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.