New English tests, scores and passports for Australian visas

From 7 August 2025 Home Affairs takes English scores from a list of tests taken at a secure test centre, and sets minimum scores for five English levels. This page shows the minimums test by test, plus the passport route and the older tables.

Home Affairs changed the English tests it approves for Australian visas on 7 August 2025. This is the list of tests it accepts for tests taken on or after that date. It includes the secure test centre condition, which is why home-based versions do not count.

Two rules sit on top of the list. The test must be taken at a secure test centre, and tests delivered completely online do not count. Home Affairs names examples.

If you took a test before 7 August 2025, an older result may still work, depending on your visa. For Vocational English and above, Home Affairs says results may still be valid for up to 3 years. For Functional English it says up to 12 months. It also says results from a test taken on or before 6 August 2025 may be used until 6 August 2028, inclusive (6 August 2026 for Functional English). Our reading: the earlier of the two dates decides.

Home Affairs does not ask for one score. Many visas name one of five English levels, from Functional at the bottom to Superior at the top. The Student visa (subclass 500) page works differently: it gives a minimum overall score for each test, so check the page for your visa. The ways to prove a level differ, as the table shows.

Our Functional, Vocational, Competent, Proficient and Superior pages go deeper on the PTE score for each level. This page puts every test side by side.

The Functional, Vocational and Competent English pages each say you can prove the level with a passport instead of a test. The citizen must hold a valid passport from one of five countries.

• Canada.
• New Zealand.
• The Republic of Ireland.
• The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• The United States of America.

The Proficient and Superior English pages we read do not list a passport route, only test scores. Our reading: a passport covers up to Competent English, not above it. Check the page for your level.

For Functional English, Home Affairs asks for a single overall score on a test taken on or after 7 August 2025. The unit is each test's own scale, so compare a test only with itself.

Two notes. IELTS and CELPIP are worded a little differently, with an average band score for IELTS and an overall band score for CELPIP. And the TOEFL iBT result only counts if you selected Taking TOEFL for Australia when you registered.

From Vocational English up, Home Affairs sets a minimum in each of the four skills. You must reach every one of them. A strong score in one skill does not make up for a low one in another.

Competent English is the level Home Affairs names for several skilled visas. Cambridge C1 Advanced appears from this level up.

Our Competent English PTE score page explains the PTE row in detail.

Proficient English raises every minimum. Note how the CELPIP row is no longer the same number across all four skills: Home Affairs sets 9 for listening, 8 for reading, 10 for writing and 8 for speaking.

Superior English is the top of the scale. Michigan English Test does not appear in this level's table.

Older results use older tables. They differ from the new ones in places that catch people out: the OET used letters, PTE Academic used a different scale, and Cambridge C1 Advanced scores were set differently. Home Affairs says results from a test taken on or before 6 August 2025 may still be used until 6 August 2028, inclusive, depending on the visa. For Functional English, the equivalent date is 6 August 2026, which has passed.

Functional English, older tests

Vocational English, older tests

Competent English, older tests

Proficient English, older tests

Superior English, older tests

• PTE Academic: Home Affairs says the PTE Academic from 7 August 2025 has the same name as the earlier test, but the test and scores are different. Do not use an old score table for a new test.
• OET: the scoring format was alphabetical and changed to numerical on 7 August 2025.
• IELTS: results that include One Skill Retake can be accepted for eligible visas. Check your visa page.
• Michigan English Test: results that include Single Section Retake can be accepted for eligible visas.
• Cambridge C1 Advanced: from 12 February 2024 to 6 August 2025 only the paper-based test was accepted.
• TOEFL iBT: select Taking TOEFL for Australia when you register, and note that a test from 26 July 2023 to 4 May 2024 was not approved. Home Affairs prints plain numbers such as 16 and 19. ETS has reported a 1 to 6 scale since 21 January 2026, and we found no Home Affairs page that says how the two line up. Our TOEFL for Australian visas page explains what we can and cannot say.

English proficiency levels often means the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, or CEFR. It runs from A1 at the bottom to C2 at the top. Home Affairs does not use CEFR names. Its five levels have their own names, and we found no Home Affairs page that maps them to CEFR. Our reading: do not assume Competent English is the same as B2, or Superior the same as C2.

Some test owners publish their own mapping to CEFR. As an example, here is how ETS lines up the 1 to 6 TOEFL iBT bands with the CEFR levels.

Treat that as ETS's own claim for its own test. Duolingo also publishes a comparison of its scores with CEFR levels, IELTS bands and TOEFL scores. For Home Affairs, only the five Home Affairs levels and the tables above matter.

1. Find the English level your visa asks for on that visa's Home Affairs page. If the page gives minimum scores instead, as the Student visa page does, use those.
2. Check whether a passport, an education route or a test is open to you at that level.
3. If you need a test, find your level's table above and use the row for your test. Check the test date against the new or older table.
4. Compare every skill, not just the average. Then check the live Home Affairs page, because the tables change.

Our score converters help if you need to compare PTE Academic and IELTS scores. Home Affairs updated the level pages we used on 21 September 2026. This is a guide, not immigration advice, and the official pages decide.

Common questions