Australia never asks for "good English". It asks for one of 5 named levels — Functional, Vocational, Competent, Proficient or Superior — and for a test taken on or after 7 August 2025 every level has an exact number attached to it in each approved test. Competent English, the level most skilled and employer-sponsored visas are built on, means IELTS 6 in each of the 4 components, PTE Academic 47 / 48 / 51 / 54, CELPIP General 7 / 7 / 7 / 7, or OET 290 / 310 / 290 / 330.
All the tables below come from the Department of Home Affairs English language pages, opened and checked on 23 September 2026. Which level your visa asks for is set by the visa subclass, not by this page — check your subclass page, and check anything about your own case with your own registered migration agent.
The 5 levels at a glance
| Level | How it is scored | IELTS number | Passport exemption available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional | Overall / average score only | Average band 4.5 | Yes — and study-based evidence too |
| Vocational | Each of the 4 components | 5 in each component | Yes |
| Competent | Each of the 4 components | 6 in each component | Yes |
| Proficient | Each of the 4 components | 7 in each component | No — test score only |
| Superior | Each of the 4 components | 8 in each component | No — test score only |
The passport route matters more than most readers expect. For Functional, Vocational and Competent English the department accepts, as an alternative to any test, evidence "that you are a citizen of, and hold a valid passport issued by" Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States. If that is you, and your visa asks for Competent English or below, you do not need a test at all — and you do not need a preparation course either. At Proficient and Superior the exemption disappears: both pages ask only for a test score.
Functional English — the only level scored on an overall band
Functional English is the odd one out: the department looks at your overall or average score, not at each component. A weak component cannot sink you here, which is not true of any other level.
| Test (taken on or after 7 August 2025) | Score required |
|---|---|
| CELPIP General | Overall band 5 |
| IELTS Academic | Average band 4.5 |
| IELTS General Training | Average band 4.5 |
| Michigan English Test (MET) | Overall band 38 |
| Occupational English Test (OET) | Overall band 1020 |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | Overall band 38 |
| PTE Academic | Overall band 24 |
| TOEFL iBT | Total score 26 |
Cambridge C1 Advanced does not appear in this table at all. Functional English can also be proven by study: a degree, higher degree, diploma or trade certificate that took at least 2 years of full-time study with all instruction in English, or the school-based options the department lists on the same page.
Vocational English
| Test | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CELPIP General | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| IELTS Academic | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| IELTS General Training | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Michigan English Test (MET) | 49 | 47 | 45 | 38 |
| Occupational English Test (OET) | 220 | 240 | 200 | 270 |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | 41 | 44 | 45 | 54 |
| PTE Academic | 33 | 36 | 29 | 24 |
| TOEFL iBT | 8 | 8 | 9 | 14 |
Cambridge C1 Advanced is absent here too, for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025.
Competent English — the level most visas are built on
| Test | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge C1 Advanced | 163 | 163 | 170 | 179 |
| CELPIP General | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| IELTS Academic | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| IELTS General Training | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Michigan English Test (MET) | 56 | 55 | 57 | 48 |
| Occupational English Test (OET) | 290 | 310 | 290 | 330 |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | 57 | 60 | 64 | 70 |
| PTE Academic | 47 | 48 | 51 | 54 |
| TOEFL iBT | 16 | 16 | 19 | 19 |
Proficient English
| Test | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge C1 Advanced | 175 | 179 | 193 | 194 |
| CELPIP General | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| IELTS Academic | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| IELTS General Training | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Michigan English Test (MET) | 61 | 63 | 74 | 59 |
| Occupational English Test (OET) | 350 | 360 | 380 | 360 |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | 67 | 71 | 78 | 82 |
| PTE Academic | 58 | 59 | 69 | 76 |
| TOEFL iBT | 22 | 22 | 26 | 24 |
Superior English
| Test | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge C1 Advanced | 186 | 190 | 210 | 208 |
| CELPIP General | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 |
| IELTS Academic | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| IELTS General Training | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Occupational English Test (OET) | 390 | 400 | 420 | 400 |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | 80 | 83 | 89 | 89 |
| PTE Academic | 69 | 70 | 85 | 88 |
| TOEFL iBT | 26 | 27 | 30 | 28 |
The Michigan English Test has no Superior row: for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025 the department lists 8 tests at Superior level, and MET is not one of them. If your target level is Superior, that rules MET out before you book anything.
Which component is actually your bottleneck
Raw numbers cannot be compared between tests — each scale is its own. What can be compared is the shape of the requirement inside one test: which component the department asks most of. This is where preparation money is either well spent or wasted.
| Test | Hardest at Competent | Hardest at Proficient | Hardest at Superior |
|---|---|---|---|
| IELTS (both versions) | All 4 equal | All 4 equal | All 4 equal |
| CELPIP General | All 4 equal | Writing (10 of 12) | Writing (12 of 12) |
| PTE Academic | Speaking (54) | Speaking (76) | Speaking (88) |
| OET | Speaking (330) | Writing (380) | Writing (420) |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | Speaking (70) | Speaking (82) | Writing and Speaking (89) |
| Cambridge C1 Advanced | Speaking (179) | Speaking (194) | Writing (210) |
| TOEFL iBT | Writing and Speaking (19) | Writing (26) | Writing (30) |
| Michigan English Test (MET) | Writing (57) | Writing (74) | Not available |
2 patterns fall out of this. In CELPIP, OET, MET, TOEFL iBT and Cambridge C1 Advanced, writing is what the higher levels really ask for — in CELPIP at Superior you need the very top of the 0–12 scale in writing and nothing more than 10 elsewhere. In PTE Academic it is the opposite: speaking is the tallest bar at every level, 54 at Competent and 88 at Superior. And IELTS is the only test where the 4 numbers are identical at every level, which makes it the easiest to plan for and the least forgiving of a single weak skill.
What the department says, word for word
On the 7 August 2025 change, the Department of Home Affairs writes:
"On 7 August 2025, the English language tests approved for Australian visa purposes changed. If you took a test before this date, your result may still be valid as proof of competent English for up to 3 years, depending on the visa subclass."
On older results, on the same page:
"Test results from a test taken on or before 6 August 2025, may be used as evidence of English proficiency for visa purposes until 6 August 2028, inclusive. This will depend on the visa."
On the PTE name collision, which is the single most common source of wrong numbers in advice written before August 2025:
"PTE Academic has the same name as the previous version of the test that was accepted before 7 August 2025. However, the test and scores are different."
On TOEFL iBT registration:
"To ensure your TOEFL iBT result is valid for Australian visa purposes, you must select ‘Taking TOEFL for Australia’ when registering for your test."
And on online test formats:
"The department does not accept evidence from English language tests that are delivered completely online (also known as ‘remote-proctored’ or ‘at-home’)."
The department names CELPIP Online, IELTS Online, LANGUAGECERT Academic Online, MET Digital (taken at-home), OET@Home and TOEFL iBT – Home Edition as examples it does not accept. Booking the at-home version of an approved test is one of the cheapest mistakes to avoid and one of the most expensive to discover late.
What this means for you
- Find your level before you pick your test. The level comes from your visa subclass. Picking a test first and a level second is how people end up with a valid result that proves the wrong thing.
- If you hold a Canadian, New Zealand, Irish, UK or US passport and your visa asks for Competent English or below, you may not need a test at all. Check your visa page before you book anything or pay for preparation.
- Aiming at Proficient or Superior changes the arithmetic. There is no passport exemption at those levels, and in most tests one component — writing in CELPIP, OET, MET, TOEFL and Cambridge; speaking in PTE — is well above the rest. A general course that spreads effort evenly across 4 skills is the wrong shape for that problem.
- Check the date on any advice you read, including ours. Numbers published before 7 August 2025 describe a different test set, and PTE Academic in particular kept its name while changing its scale.
- 1 test result, 2 different rulers. If you are a health professional, the score your regulator wants and the score your visa wants are set separately — see our AHPRA English requirements for 2026.
Green School, an online school in Australia, has been preparing students for these exams since 2018 — more than 3,500 students across IELTS, PTE, OET, CELPIP and NAATI CCL. We are a Silver member of the CELPIP Network and have taught CELPIP since February 2024. If you already know your level and your bottleneck component, that is the course to look for; if you do not, that is the thing to work out first.
Frequently asked questions
What English level do I need for an Australian visa?
It depends on the subclass. The department uses 5 levels — Functional, Vocational, Competent, Proficient and Superior — and each visa page states which one applies. Competent English (IELTS 6 in each component) is the level most skilled and employer-sponsored visas are built on; Proficient and Superior appear mainly where points are awarded for English.
Is Competent English the same as IELTS 6 overall?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. Competent English means at least 6 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking. An overall 6.5 with a 5.5 in writing does not meet it. Only Functional English is judged on an overall or average score.
Which English test is accepted for Australian visas in 2026?
For tests taken on or after 7 August 2025 the department lists Cambridge C1 Advanced, CELPIP General, IELTS Academic, IELTS General Training, LANGUAGECERT Academic, the Michigan English Test, OET, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT. Not every test is available at every level: Cambridge C1 Advanced is not listed for Functional or Vocational English, and MET is not listed for Superior. For a side-by-side of the 3 most common choices, see our CELPIP vs PTE vs IELTS comparison.
How long is my English test result valid?
The department's Competent English page says a result may be valid "for up to 3 years, depending on the visa subclass", and that results from tests taken on or before 6 August 2025 may be used "until 6 August 2028, inclusive". Because it depends on the subclass, check the validity rule on your own visa page rather than assuming 3 years.
Can I take the test at home?
Not for Australian visa purposes. The department does not accept fully online, remote-proctored or at-home delivery, and names CELPIP Online, IELTS Online, LANGUAGECERT Academic Online, MET Digital (at-home), OET@Home and TOEFL iBT Home Edition as examples.
Which test is cheapest if I just need Competent English?
Price is the one thing that varies most between these tests, and it changes often. We checked every published fee in September 2026 in English test fees in Australia in 2026. For a broader look at how the tests differ in format and recognition, start with our hub page, the best English tests in 2026.
Do university entry requirements use the same levels?
No. Universities set their own English thresholds, and a score that satisfies an admissions office may still fall short of the visa rule — see English requirements for studying in Australia.
Sources
- Department of Home Affairs, Functional English — checked 23 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Vocational English — checked 23 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Competent English — checked 23 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Proficient English — checked 23 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Superior English — checked 23 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, English language requirements — checked 23 September 2026.
This page sets out published rules only. It is not migration advice. For your own circumstances, check with your own registered migration agent.