English Language Requirements

Key Takeaways

• There is no single UK English requirement. The level you must prove depends on the route you are applying on and on which stage you have reached, and the two are set by different parts of the Immigration Rules.
• Skilled Worker, Scale-up Worker, High Potential Individual, Innovator Founder and T2 Minister of Religion applicants need B2. A Student on a degree course needs B2, and B1 below degree level. The family route starts at A1.
• A Skilled Worker applying for settlement has no English requirement of their own until the application date reaches 26 March 2027, from which point paragraph SW 22A.1 requires B2 in speaking and listening.
• Partners and adult children settling with a Skilled Worker already have a settlement English requirement. It is B1 in speaking and listening, and B2 where the application is made on or after 26 March 2027.
• A test is only one of six ways to meet the requirement, and an earlier pass only counts if it was at the level your current application needs. A B1 pass does not carry forward to a B2 requirement.
• Settlement also needs the Life in the UK test, which is a separate requirement. Passing one does nothing for the other, and a Life in the UK pass can be reused when you later apply for citizenship.
• WorkPermitCloud can check which level applies to you, whether you are exempt and whether an old certificate still counts. Our indefinite leave to remain service and our free ILR eligibility calculator are the place to start.

Introduction

This page is for anyone applying for a UK visa, an extension, settlement or British citizenship who needs to know what standard of English they must prove and how to prove it. It covers every route, both stages, all six ways of meeting the requirement, every exemption, and the Life in the UK test. Where the Home Office documents disagree with each other, which they do on one important point, the page says so rather than picking the convenient answer.

How the English Language Requirement Works

The requirement is measured against the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, usually shortened to CEFR. It runs A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2, with A1 the lowest and C2 the highest. A1 is basic, A2 elementary, B1 intermediate and B2 upper intermediate.

Four components can be tested: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Which of them you need depends on your route and your stage. Some requirements cover all four, others only speaking and listening.

Two points catch people out. The first is that where a test is required, you must reach the minimum level in each component that applies to you. Paragraph EL 6.1 of Appendix English Language asks for a pass "to the required level in each required component", so a strong score in one skill does not lift a weak score in another. The second is that a higher level always satisfies a lower one. If you hold B2 and the requirement is B1, you meet it.

It is also worth knowing where the level actually comes from, because it explains why a single answer to "what level do I need" is always wrong. Appendix English Language sets out how the requirement may be met. Paragraph EL 2.1 says only that an applicant meets it "if any of the requirements in EL 3.1. to EL 7.2 are met". The level itself sits in each route's own appendix, which is why a Skilled Worker, a Student and a spouse all read the same appendix and come away with different answers.

What Level Each Route Requires

The table below sets out the level for each route at the visa stage, for entry clearance from outside the UK and for permission to stay from inside it. Settlement is a separate question and is covered in the next section.

The full list is published by the Home Office as English language requirement levels for immigration applications.

Work Routes

Skilled Worker, Scale-up Worker and High Potential Individual moved from B1 to B2 for initial grants of permission made on or after 8 January 2026. The change was made by Statement of Changes HC 1333, whose explanatory memorandum records that the higher level applies "to those seeking an initial grant of leave in a relevant route".

The same memorandum carries a protection that saves a lot of people a test. It states that those "who have already obtained a permission where they were required to show a B1 level, will continue to be subject to a B1 level requirement where they are seeking an extension on the same route". Read that wording closely. It covers an extension on the same route. It does not cover a switch into a different route, which counts as a fresh initial grant, and it does not reach the settlement stage. If you are extending, our guide to extending your Skilled Worker visa covers the documents and timing, and if you are moving employer or route, see changing jobs or employers on a Skilled Worker visa.

Care and health roles sit inside the Skilled Worker route, so the B2 level applies to them in the same way. There is more on those roles in our guidance on care worker and health routes and in our guide to switching to a care worker visa. For how the English points fit alongside skill level and salary, see our guidance on Skilled Worker eligibility and salary, and for the application itself, Skilled Worker: apply, switch and extend. If you would like us to handle the application, see our Skilled Worker visa application service.

Study Routes

A Student applying to study at degree level or above needs B2. Below degree level the requirement is B1. Where the sponsor is a higher education provider, it may assess the applicant's English itself rather than requiring a Secure English Language Test, but its assessment must still be equivalent to B2. Below degree level an approved test is needed. The GOV.UK Student visa knowledge of English page sets out the position.

The Graduate route has no English language requirement of its own, because the Student permission underneath it already tested the applicant. Our guidance on Graduate and student switching covers what happens next.

Family and Partner Routes

The family route tests English in stages rather than all at once. A partner applying for the first time needs A1. At the extension after two and a half years the requirement rises to A2 in speaking and listening. Someone who passed at A2 or higher at the first stage can normally rely on that result again at the extension, and someone who passed at B1 or above can rely on it at settlement. The GOV.UK family visa page sets out each stage.

Children, adult dependent relatives and applicants aged 65 or over do not have to prove English on this route. Our guidance on dependants and family covers the wider rules, and our spouse visa service covers the application itself.

Routes With No English Requirement at the Visa Stage

Several routes ask for nothing at all when you first apply. Graduate, Global Talent, Senior or Specialist Worker, the Youth Mobility Scheme and the adult dependants of work and study main applicants are the common ones. Global Talent is the one to watch, because there is no requirement at entry but there is one at settlement, and people arrive at the five year point having never sat a test.

Adult dependants of Skilled Workers and Students are worth spelling out. A partner or adult child coming to the UK on a work or study route does not have to prove English to get their visa. A requirement at A1 for this group was proposed in the 2025 immigration white paper, but it has not been brought into the Rules. It is a proposal, not a requirement, and any content telling dependants they need A1 to come to the UK is describing something that has not happened.

The Level Required for Settlement

Settlement carries two separate knowledge requirements: knowledge of the English language, and knowledge of life in the UK. They are proved in different ways and meeting one does nothing for the other. This section covers both. Qualifying periods, absences, continuous residence and fees are dealt with in our guidance on indefinite leave to remain and settlement.

One thing decides which rules apply to you, and it is not when your five years finish. It is the date of application. Someone who becomes eligible well before a change but applies after it is assessed under the later rules. Our guide to when you will be eligible for ILR as a Skilled Worker and our guide to what counts towards the five year qualifying period will help you work out your own date.

Skilled Workers Applying in Their Own Right

This is the part most often reported wrongly, so it is worth being precise. Appendix Skilled Worker gained a new paragraph, SW 22A.1, through Statement of Changes HC 1691. It reads:

"Where the date of application is on or after 26 March 2027, the applicant must, unless an exemption applies, show English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in speaking and listening to at least level B2."

Two things follow. Where the application is made on or after 26 March 2027, the main applicant must show B2 in speaking and listening unless an exemption applies, and SW 22A.2 sends you to Appendix English Language for the ways of meeting it and the exemptions. Where the application is made before that date, Appendix Skilled Worker contains no English requirement for the main applicant at all. SW 23.1 sends you to Appendix KOL UK, which is the Life in the UK test and nothing else. A main applicant settling before that date still has to pass the Life in the UK test and meet the qualifying period and salary rules, but does not prove English again.

That makes the application date unusually valuable on this route. A few days either side of it is the difference between no English requirement and a B2 test. Our post on the earned settlement plan and the B2 English decision covers how the change came about.

Where the Rules and the Caseworker Guidance Disagree

There is an unresolved conflict here and anyone planning a test needs to know about it.

SW 22A.1 requires B2 in speaking and listening. The Skilled Worker caseworker guidance, which is what Home Office decision makers actually read, says something different at section 22.2: "For any settlement application on or after 26 March 2027, the applicant must demonstrate English language skills equivalent to level B2 of the Common European Framework of References for English language. Applicants must have the required level in all 4 components (reading, writing, speaking and listening)."

The Immigration Rules are laid before Parliament and set out what the law requires. Caseworker guidance tells officials how to apply the Rules and cannot add a requirement the Rules do not contain. On the wording of the two documents, the legal requirement is B2 in speaking and listening. The practical risk is that a caseworker applies section 22.2 as it is written and refuses an application that meets SW 22A.1 but not the guidance.

In practice the gap matters less than it looks, for the reason set out under four-skill and two-skill tests below: every approved test at B2 covers all four components anyway. If you need to sit a test, taking one that gives you B2 across all four removes the question entirely. Check both SW 22A.1 and section 22.2 before you book, because either document can change. Our post on whether Skilled Worker ILR needs speaking and listening or all four skills tracks this point in detail.

Partners and Children Settling With You

Dependants are in a different position from the main applicant, and it is the reverse of what most people assume. A partner or adult child settling with a Skilled Worker already has a settlement English requirement. Under SW 44.1 it is B1 in speaking and listening, rising to B2 in speaking and listening where the application is made on or after 26 March 2027. Children under 18 are exempt.

Because a partner who arrived on a dependant visa never had to prove English to get it, many have no evidence at all and no idea a requirement is coming. That is the single most common reason a family gets caught out at the settlement stage. Our guide to ILR for dependants and our post on the B2 requirement for skilled workers and their families cover this in more detail.

The Routes Moving to B2 at Settlement

HC 1691 raised the settlement English requirement from B1 to B2 across fourteen appendices, with effect for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. The explanatory memorandum records the purpose as increasing the requirement "for a number of immigration routes where the existing requirement is at B1 level". The appendices named are: KoLL, Skilled Worker, Tier 2 Minister of Religion, Representative of an Overseas Business, UK Ancestry, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder, International Sportsperson, Child Relative (Sponsors with Protection), Long Residence, Bereaved Partner, Private Life, and Settlement Family Life.

The presence of Settlement Family Life, Bereaved Partner, Private Life and Long Residence on that list matters, because it means the change is not confined to work routes. A partner settling on the family route, someone settling on long residence and someone settling on private life grounds are all reached by it.

Two appendices govern the knowledge requirements at settlement and which one applies depends on your route. Appendix KOL UK holds the Life in the UK test on its own and covers the modern routes including Skilled Worker, with the English level left to the route's own appendix. Appendix KoLL is the older combined appendix, holding both an English element and a Life in the UK element, and it still applies to the routes that have not moved across. Appendix KoLL is where the B1 settlement standard, and the B2 standard for applications made on or after 26 March 2027, are written out.

The Life in the UK Test

The Life in the UK test is the second half of the settlement requirement and it is not an English test. It is a test of knowledge about British history, customs and everyday life, drawn entirely from the official handbook.

It costs £50 and is booked online at least 3 days in advance, at one of over 30 test centres across the UK. The test is 24 questions in 45 minutes. Guide AN, the Home Office naturalisation booklet, states that you must score 75% or more to pass. The GOV.UK Life in the UK test page does not itself publish a pass mark, so that figure is quoted from Guide AN rather than from the test page.

You need photographic identification to sit it: a valid passport, an EU or EEA national identity card, a travel document with a photograph, or a biometric residence permit or card. Anyone holding an eVisa can use a share code instead. If you fail you can book again and pay the fee again, as many times as you need.

You do not have to take it if you are under 18, aged 65 or over, have a long-term physical or mental condition that prevents it, or have passed it before. That last point is worth knowing. GOV.UK gives the example of someone "applying to become a citizen" who "already passed it as part of your settlement application", so a pass taken for settlement carries through to a later citizenship application.

The Level Required for British Citizenship

Naturalisation asks for sufficient knowledge of English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic, plus the Life in the UK test. The Welsh and Scottish Gaelic alternative is genuine and is specific to citizenship, so a Welsh speaker does not need to prove English separately.

The level stated in the Home Office naturalisation materials is B1. Guide AN asks for "a Home Office approved qualification in English at B1 CEFR or higher", and the Home Office caseworker guidance on knowledge of language and life asks for a speaking and listening test "at B1 level or above". Neither refers to B2 or to 26 March 2027.

So the position to take from this page is a careful one. The settlement requirement moves to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. The naturalisation requirement is set separately, and the settlement change does not automatically carry across to it. The reason is that HC 1691 amends appendices of the Immigration Rules, while the naturalisation knowledge of language requirement sits under the British Nationality Act 1981 and its own nationality guidance. Anyone applying for citizenship should check the level applying on their own application date rather than assuming it matches settlement. You can follow any change through the GOV.UK statements of changes collection.

If you already met the knowledge of language and life requirement for settlement, you do not normally have to meet it again for citizenship. Our naturalisation service and British citizenship service can confirm your position.

The Six Ways to Meet the Requirement

A test is the best known route and the least common one in practice. Appendix English Language allows six, and most people who already hold UK permission are covered by one of the others.

One: Being a National of a Majority English Speaking Country

Nationals of the countries listed in Appendix English Language meet the requirement on their passport alone, at any level. The list is Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British overseas territories, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Malta, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.

Ireland is a special case and is worth stating properly, because it is regularly got wrong in both directions. The GOV.UK exemptions page lists Ireland among the majority English speaking countries for citizenship only. The British overseas territories appear as a group rather than being itemised.

Two: Holding a Degree Taught in English

A bachelor's degree, master's degree or doctorate awarded in the UK meets the requirement, proved with the certificate or an official transcript. No further verification is needed and you should not apply to have a UK award assessed.

An overseas qualification meets the requirement where it is equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree or above and was taught or researched in English. That needs confirmation from the qualification and language assessments provider, which is Ecctis, working on behalf of the Home Office. Ecctis delivers this through its Qualification and Language Service, which replaced the older Visa and Nationality statement. It issues an Academic Qualification Level Statement confirming the level and an English Language Proficiency Statement confirming the English. A qualification from a majority English speaking country generally needs the level confirmation alone; one from elsewhere needs both. The output is a Unique Person Identifier code that you give the Home Office in your application rather than a paper certificate. Statements issued before 1 May 2025 are checked through the Ecctis online verification portal instead.

Three: Passing a Secure English Language Test

If none of the other routes fits, you sit an approved test. This is covered in full in the next section.

Four: Holding a UK School Qualification in English

A GCSE, International GCSE, A level, Scottish National Qualification at level 4 or 5, or a Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher, in English language or English literature, meets the requirement where it was awarded by a regulated awarding body following education at a UK school that you began before you were 18.

There is a limit on this route that is easy to miss. Appendix English Language lists which provisions are open to which routes, and this one is not open to every application. It is available for Skilled Worker entry clearance and permission to stay, but the list covering settlement applications does not extend it to Skilled Worker settlement. If a UK school qualification is the only thing you are relying on for a settlement application, take advice before you rely on it alone.

Five: Having Already Met It at the Level Now Required

This is the provision that saves most people a test, and the wording of it decides who it saves. Paragraph EL 3.1 reads: "An applicant will meet the English language requirement if they have already shown they met the requirement, at the level required for their current application, in a previous successful application for entry clearance or permission to stay."

The words that matter are "at the level required for their current application". There is no time limit, so a pass from years ago still counts. But it only counts if it was at the level your current application needs. A B1 pass meets a B1 requirement however old it is. It does not meet a B2 requirement, however recently it was accepted. That is why someone who entered the Skilled Worker route at B1 and reaches settlement on or after 26 March 2027 needs fresh evidence, while someone who entered at B2 from 8 January 2026 onwards does not.

There is a related exemption that comes at the same problem from the other direction. GOV.UK confirms that you do not need to prove your knowledge of English if you are settling on a Skilled Worker, T2 or Tier 2 visa, a Representative of an Overseas Business visa, a Minister of Religion visa, an International Sportsperson visa, an Innovator Founder visa, an International Agreement visa, a Domestic Worker in a Private Household visa or a Scale-up Worker visa, "because you proved your knowledge of English when you applied for your current visa".

Six: A Professional Body Assessment, for Certain Healthcare Roles

Paragraph EL 9.1 provides that an applicant under Appendix Skilled Worker meets the requirement if they are sponsored to work as a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife or veterinarian and have passed an English language assessment accepted by the relevant regulated professional body as a requirement for registration.

This one has a hard boundary. EL 9.1 applies to entry clearance and permission to stay under Appendix Skilled Worker. It does not extend to settlement. A doctor or nurse who met the English requirement through their professional registration when they got their visa cannot rely on that same assessment at the settlement stage, and this is a group who very reasonably assume they are covered.

Secure English Language Tests in Practice

A Secure English Language Test, usually called a SELT, has to be taken with an approved provider at an approved test centre. A test taken anywhere else does not count, however well known or rigorous it is. This is the most common avoidable reason an application fails on English.

The Approved Providers

The current lists, with the CEFR level and minimum grade for each test, are published on the GOV.UK page prove your English language abilities with a secure English language test. Check the list before booking rather than after.

The standard version of a test is not the UKVI version. Standard IELTS Academic or General Training, standard PTE Academic, the Duolingo English Test and TOEFL iBT are not Secure English Language Tests and will not meet the requirement. Book through the provider's official UKVI channel and confirm that the version you are booking is the approved one.

Four-Skill and Two-Skill Tests, and the Gap at B2

Approved tests come in two shapes. Four-skill tests cover speaking, listening, reading and writing. Two-skill tests cover speaking and listening only, which is all that some requirements need. IELTS Life Skills and PTE Home are the best known two-skill tests, and they are considerably cheaper and shorter than the four-skill versions.

Here is the practical problem. IELTS Life Skills is offered at A1, A2 and B1. PTE Home is offered at A1, A2 and B1. Neither goes up to B2. So a requirement for B2 in speaking and listening cannot be met with either of the two cheap tests that most people have heard of, and the approved four-skill tests at B2 test reading and writing as well whether you need them or not.

That is why the disagreement between SW 22A.1 and section 22.2 of the caseworker guidance has less practical bite than it first appears. Someone sitting a B2 test will be sitting a four-skill test in any case. Check the current approved lists for which tests are offered at B2 before you book, since providers and approved versions change.

Booking, the Reference Number and the Two-Year Validity

When you pass, the provider issues a unique reference number. Different providers call it different things: a UER at Trinity, a UKVI number at IELTS, a Candidate URN at LANGUAGECERT, a SELT URN at Pearson and a URN at PSI. That number goes into your application and is what lets the Home Office verify the result. Without it the result cannot be checked.

A SELT result is valid for two years from the date the test is awarded. This is the point at which two different ideas get mixed up, and it is worth separating them carefully. The certificate has a two-year life, so if you are relying on a fresh test it must have been passed within the two years before your application date. The credit for having already met the requirement under EL 3.1 has no time limit at all, because it attaches to the earlier successful application rather than to the certificate. An expired certificate from an application that was granted does not stop you relying on EL 3.1, provided the level is right. Our guide to which English tests UKVI accepts for ILR covers providers and booking in more depth.

Who Does Not Have to Prove It

The exemptions are set out in Appendix English Language and on the GOV.UK exemptions page. They are worth checking before you book anything.

Age

An applicant aged 65 or over on the date of application is exempt, as is an applicant aged under 18. Both are assessed on the application date, so someone turning 65 shortly before applying is exempt and someone turning 65 shortly after is not.

A Long-Term Physical or Mental Condition

An applicant with a disability, meaning a physical or mental condition, which prevents them from meeting the requirement is exempt. This is not a self-declaration. You need a completed exemption form from a registered doctor together with current medical reports, and the Home Office assesses whether the condition genuinely prevents compliance rather than making it harder.

The Fifteen-Year Long Residence Exemption

Paragraph EL 1.1(d) provides a route for people who have tried and cannot get there. It is available to a partner, parent or dependent child aged 18 or over, and all four limbs have to be met. The applicant must have spent a continuous period of 15 years in the UK with permission. They must hold an English speaking and listening qualification at A2 CEFR or ESOL entry level 2. They must have attended at least 75 guided learning hours in the 12 months before the date of application. And a qualified teacher must confirm that they are unlikely to attain the required level through further study, that level being B1, or B2 where the application is made on or after 26 March 2027.

HM Armed Forces and Their Families

Applicants under the HM Armed Forces provisions have the same age and condition grounds, and one more that exists nowhere else. Paragraph EL 1.2 allows an exemption where there are exceptional circumstances which prevent the applicant from meeting the requirement.

Settling on a Work Route Where You Already Proved It

As set out under the fifth way of meeting the requirement above, GOV.UK treats someone settling on most work routes as having met the requirement already, because they proved their English when they applied for their current visa. Read this alongside EL 3.1 rather than on its own, because EL 3.1 is what ties the earlier evidence to the level your current application needs.

Common Reasons an Application Is Refused on English

• Taking the right test in the wrong place. The test must be with an approved provider at an approved centre. A standard IELTS or PTE sitting does not become a SELT because the content is the same.
• Meeting the level overall but not in every component. EL 6.1 requires the level in each required component, so a strong speaking score does not carry a weak writing score.
• Booking a two-skill test where four skills are required, or assuming a two-skill test exists at B2 when it does not.
• Relying on an old certificate at the wrong level. A B1 pass does not satisfy a B2 requirement, whatever its date.
• Sitting a new test when EL 3.1 already covered you. This costs money rather than the application, but it is the most common waste on this subject.
• Applying to Ecctis for a UK-awarded degree, which the service does not assess.
• Assuming the extension protection on a work route carries across a switch or up to settlement. It does neither.
• Leaving the test until the qualifying period is nearly complete, then finding the result arrives after the application date you were aiming for.
• Omitting the unique reference number, which leaves the Home Office unable to verify a pass you genuinely hold.

If an application has already been refused and you believe the decision is wrong, our administrative review service can look at it. Where the refusal is correct but the evidence was fixable, a fresh application with the right evidence is usually faster.

Detailed Guides on This Topic

• Does Skilled Worker ILR need speaking and listening or all four skills? A close reading of SW 22A.1 against the caseworker guidance, and what to do while the two differ.
• The earned settlement plan and the B2 English decision How the settlement change was made and which routes it reaches.
• The B2 requirement for skilled workers and their families Written for families planning a settlement application together.
• UK English language requirements by visa route A route by route breakdown of the levels at the visa stage.
• The rise to B2 for work visas What changed for Skilled Worker, Scale-up and High Potential Individual applicants, and who kept the lower level.
• Which English tests UKVI accepts for ILR Providers, approved versions and the tests that do not count.

How Can WorkPermitCloud Help?

Most of the work on this subject is not sitting a test. It is working out whether you need one at all. We check which level applies to your route and your stage, whether one of the six ways of meeting the requirement already covers you, whether an exemption applies to you or to your partner, and whether an old certificate still counts. Where a test is genuinely needed, we confirm which one and when to sit it so that the result is valid on the date you apply.

We also help families plan the two applications together, because the main applicant and the dependants are on different requirements and different dates, and the partner is usually the one with no evidence at all.

Conclusion

The English language requirement looks like one rule and behaves like a dozen. The level comes from your route, the components come from your stage, and the date that decides which version applies to you is the date you apply, not the date you become eligible.

Three things are worth doing early. Check whether you need to prove anything at all, because nationality, a degree taught in English, your age or an earlier pass at the right level may already cover you. If you do need a test, check that the level you hold matches the level your next application needs, since an old pass at a lower level is worth nothing towards a higher one. And if you have a partner or adult children settling with you, check their position separately from your own, because it is genuinely different and theirs is the one most often missed.

Glossary