OET in Australia: which visas and registrations accept it

Home Affairs and Ahpra both accept the OET, but only the versions taken at a test centre. Home Affairs says it does not accept OET@Home, the version taken fully online. The scores differ by visa level and by the date you sat the test.

The OET is the English test made for people who work in healthcare. If you are a nurse, doctor, dentist, pharmacist, physio or one of the other professions it covers, it asks you to use English the way you would on a ward or in a clinic. If you do not work in healthcare, it is not the test for you.

The Department of Home Affairs sets the English level for visas. Ahpra and the National Boards set the level for registration. They accept the same test but write their own rules, so read each one's page before you book. Ahpra says the tests it uses are also used by the department to decide visa eligibility.

This page is a plain-words guide, not immigration or registration advice. The department's page, Ahpra's page and OET's page decide, and they change.

Home Affairs publishes one list of English tests for visas. The OET is on it. The department adds two conditions that matter to you: the test must be taken at a secure test centre, and it must not be delivered completely online.

Home Affairs names these as examples of online tests it does not accept for Australian visa purposes: CELPIP Online, IELTS Online, LANGUAGECERT Academic Online, MET Digital (taken at-home), OET@Home and TOEFL iBT Home Edition.

That means OET@Home, the version you sit fully on your own computer at home, is not accepted for a visa. OET gives a similar warning about its at-home version: it says OET@Home may not be accepted by all recognising organisations or authorities in every country.

OET's own list of who accepts it in Australia shows the paper and computer versions for Home Affairs and Ahpra, and the paper version only for the nursing accreditation council ANMAC. OET's page also says the department recognises the OET for visa categories including skilled migration and student visas.

One mismatch to know about. OET's own list still shows a score of B in each part for both Home Affairs and Ahpra. The department's numbers from 7 August 2025 and Ahpra's numbers from 23 April 2026 are numeric, as the tables below show. Follow the department's and Ahpra's own pages for the score.

Each visa asks for a named English level: Functional, Vocational, Competent, Proficient or Superior. The department sets an OET score for each. From 7 August 2025 the scores are numbers for each part, with one overall number for Functional English.

Home Affairs adds a note about the overall result. OET does not print an overall number on the score report, so you ask OET for it, or take it from your Statement of Results as described further down.

Results from before 7 August 2025

If you sat the OET on or before 6 August 2025, your result was in letter grades. The department still reads those results in a second table on the Vocational, Competent, Proficient and Superior English pages. Its Functional English page has no OET row for tests taken on or before 6 August 2025. The letters it asks for are below.

How long an older result stays usable depends on the page you are reading. The main English-language page says one thing and the Functional English page says another, so we show both.

The second date has already passed. If you hold an older result, check the page for the exact level your visa uses.

The time window for the test also differs by level. The Vocational, Competent, Proficient and Superior English pages say the test must be in the last three years before you apply, and the Functional English page says the last twelve months.

• Vocational and Competent English: "You achieved one of the test scores in Table 1 or Table 2 in the 3 years before your visa application, depending on the visa subclass."
• Proficient and Superior English: "show us evidence that you have achieved one of the test scores listed in Table 1 or Table 2 in the 3 years before your visa application, depending on the visa subclass."
• Functional English: "You achieved one of the test scores in Table 2 or Table 3 in the 12 months before your visa application."

Some visa pages set their own OET numbers instead of pointing to the five levels. Two you are likely to meet are the Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485, and the Skills in Demand visa, subclass 482 (the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams).

Temporary Graduate visa

The Post-Higher Education Work stream page for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) sets an overall OET score and a minimum for each part, and it repeats that OET does not print an overall score on the report. It also sets a twelve-month window: the result must be from the 12 months immediately before the day you apply.

That page has one table with a column for each accepted test and a row for the overall score and for each part. For tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, the OET column reads 1310 overall, with at least 260 in Listening, 280 in Reading, 260 in Writing and 310 in Speaking. The same page has a separate, lower table for holders of British National (Overseas) or Hong Kong passports, and it lists passports from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland as another way to show English level, so check which group you are in. The visa has other streams, so read the page for your own stream. The same page tells you what to do about the missing overall number.

Skills in Demand visa, Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams

If you need to sit a test for the 482 and no exemption applies, the page says you must take it within three years before you apply. For tests taken on or after 13 September 2025 the OET scores are below.

For tests taken before 13 September 2025 the 482 page asks for a score of at least B in each of the four components. It says you must reach the scores in one sitting, and that single skill retake results are not accepted.

Visa rules change often. Read the page for your own subclass before you book a test, and use the date the test is taken, not the date you decide, to pick the table.

If you want to register as a health practitioner in Australia, Ahpra and the National Boards set the English standard. The OET is one of five tests they accept, and any profession's OET can be used. Ahpra lists it as OET, the Occupational English Test, on paper or computer in a testing centre.

Ahpra changed its scores on 23 April 2026, so which table applies to you depends on the date you sat the test.

The second table also sets a floor if you use two sittings. Ahpra accepts one sitting, or at most two sittings within twelve months. Each sitting must test all four parts, and in the newer table no part in either sitting may fall below 320 for Listening, 340 for Reading, 350 for Writing and 350 for Speaking.

Ahpra accepts results from one sitting, or at most two sittings within 12 months. It says results from different test providers cannot be combined.

Our reading: OET lets you book single parts on paper after a full test. Ahpra's table says you are tested in all four components in each sitting, and it says the one-skill retake is only for IELTS. So a single-part rebook may not count for registration. OET itself warns you to check this with the organisation first.

Ahpra says the IELTS One Skill Retake is accepted but is not available for the other accepted tests. OET's own advice on booking single parts is to check first that the organisation accepts part results.

At home and computer versions

In plain words, OET Test on Computer at a venue is fine for Ahpra even though its Speaking part may be done from home. Ahpra says the computer test has one remote proctored element that the National Boards assessed as acceptable. OET@Home is not accepted. Results are valid for two years before the date you lodge your application for registration.

Our Ahpra English requirements page covers the other tests and the exceptions to the two-year rule.

OET recommends that organisations accept results only when you share them digitally from your OET account, so share your result with Home Affairs there rather than emailing a PDF. Then wait up to seventy-two (72) hours and download the Statement of Results from OET's results portal. Check your visa page for anything else it wants in the application.

There is a conflict in OET's own wording about overall scores, and you should know it before you wonder where yours is. One OET page says your results include an overall score. Another says an overall grade is not issued. Home Affairs says the report carries no overall number. The OET sharing page says the Statement of Results includes the overall score the department needs. Our reading: the overall number for visas is produced for the department through the sharing route, not printed on the normal report.

Ask OET's support team if the number you need is not in the portal after the wait.

Ahpra says the accepted tests are set at equal levels, so no test is easier to pass than another. That matters if you are comparing the OET with IELTS, PTE or TOEFL.

Our reading of the choice, in plain terms:

• The OET uses healthcare tasks. If your daily work is a ward, a clinic or a pharmacy counter, the tasks will feel familiar. That is OET's own description of the test.
• The OET is made for health professionals, and OET itself says it may not be the most suitable test if you are not one. If your visa plan is not tied to a health job, look at the general tests too.

The version matters. Home Affairs does not accept OET@Home. Ahpra says the OET computer-based test, at a test centre only, has one remote proctored element that its National Boards have assessed as acceptable. The Home Affairs pages we read do not say how the department treats a Speaking part done from home, and OET tells you to make sure the Speaking mode you select is accepted by the organisation you are applying to.

Our advice: check your visa page before you book.

• Dates matter. Both the department and Ahpra changed their tables during 2025 and 2026, so write down the date you sit and check which table that date falls under.

Our page on English tests accepted for Australian visas lays out every test side by side, and the PTE and IELTS comparison is there if you are weighing a general test.

Common questions