From 14 October 2026, OET can require a candidate who is a national of a sanctioned country to prove that they live outside one before they are allowed to sit the test. OET's own support page names 6 sanctioned jurisdictions — Iran, Sudan, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and the Crimea Region of Ukraine — and the new notice lists 3 documents that can prove residence, 3 more that can prove a residential address, and 1 category it refuses outright: hotel and other short-term accommodation bookings.
This is relevant in Australia even though none of those jurisdictions is in Australia. OET is 1 of the 9 tests the Department of Home Affairs accepts for visa English, and it is the only one of the 9 built specifically for healthcare, which is why this notice lands hardest on health professionals. A nurse or doctor living on the Gold Coast or in Sydney on an Iranian, Syrian or Cuban passport is exactly the candidate OET says it may contact.
What OET published, and when
The notice is dated 14 October 2026 and is written as a change already made, not as a plan. In OET's words: "Following a recent change to US sanctions, OET has introduced additional candidate verification requirements for nationals of sanctioned countries."
The mechanism is that OET contacts the candidate, not the other way round: "The OET team will contact impacted candidates who will need to submit their supporting documents with instruction on how to submit them." OET also says what the candidate has to confirm — residence outside the sanctioned country, and that they are "not affiliated with the government or another entity of that country, before sitting for the OET Test."
That sits on top of a rule OET has had in place for longer, published on its support site: "We currently cannot offer testing or receive payments (funds) from candidates residing in sanctioned countries." So there are 2 separate things here, and they are easy to confuse. Residence in a sanctioned country stops the booking. Nationality alone does not — it triggers a document check.
What each test owner has published about sanctions
Every row below is the test owner's own published wording. Where an owner has published nothing, the cell says so instead of carrying a guess.
| Test and owner | What the owner has published | Date on the notice | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| OET (Occupational English Test) | Additional verification for nationals of sanctioned countries. OET contacts affected candidates and asks for proof of residence outside the sanctioned country plus confirmation of no government affiliation. | 14 October 2026, in force | oet.com news post |
| OET — residents of a sanctioned country | No testing and no payments accepted. The 6 jurisdictions listed are Iran, Sudan, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and the Crimea Region of Ukraine. | No date published on the page | OET support site |
| TOEFL iBT (ETS) | Testing paused within Iran after the US Treasury's OFAC suspended General License G. Appointments inside Iran cancelled by 8 September 2026; from 9 September 2026 no new score-report requests for test takers residing in Iran. Nationality alone is not a bar outside Iran; ordinary residence in Iran is. | Effective immediately; page updated regularly | ets.org update page |
| IELTS in Iran (IDP) | IDP stopped IELTS testing in Iran. Last test date 31 January 2026. Confirmed bookings were honoured and results stay valid where they are accepted. | Last test 31 January 2026 | ielts.idp.com announcement |
| PTE Academic (Pearson) | Nothing found. As at 15 October 2026 there is no sanctions or restricted-country notice in the news section of pearsonpte.com. Left empty deliberately — ask Pearson directly rather than rely on third-party claims. | — | pearsonpte.com news |
| CELPIP (Paragon Testing Enterprises) | Nothing found. As at 15 October 2026 no sanctions policy is published on celpip.ca. Left empty deliberately. | — | celpip.ca |
The pattern across the owners that have published something is the same, and it is worth saying plainly because it is the part people get wrong: the restriction follows where you live and pay from, not the passport in your hand. ETS puts it in 1 sentence: "This restriction applies to testing within Iran and does not prevent an individual from taking the TOEFL or GRE test outside Iran based on Iranian nationality alone." And then the limit on that: "ETS is unable to process registrations or payments associated with individuals who are ordinarily resident in Iran, including for test appointments outside the country."
The 3 documents OET accepts, and the 1 it refuses
| What has to be proved | Accepted by OET | Not accepted |
|---|---|---|
| Residence outside a sanctioned country | A valid residency permit; a valid visa permitting residence in the country; a valid passport from a non-sanctioned country | Tourist or visitor visas, excluded by name in the same list |
| A residential address, when the government document above does not show an address outside the sanctioned country | A government-issued driving licence showing the residential address; a recent utility bill in the candidate's name showing the residential address; a duly executed residential tenancy or rental agreement | Hotel and other short-term accommodation reservations |
| No affiliation with the government or another entity of the sanctioned country | A confirmation from the candidate, requested by OET together with the documents | No alternative published |
OET is explicit about why a hotel booking fails: "Hotel or other short-term accommodation reservations will not be accepted as proof of residency, as these demonstrate physical presence or temporary accommodation rather than residency." If you hold a tourist visa for the country you are testing in, both halves of the check work against you — the visa type is excluded and a hotel reservation cannot stand in for an address.
Where this leaves the 9 tests Australia accepts
Home Affairs lists 9 tests for visa English, for results from tests taken at a secure test centre on or after 7 August 2025. Results from tests taken on or before 6 August 2025 can still be used until 6 August 2028, depending on the visa. The sanctions column below carries only what the owner has published.
| Test accepted for an Australian visa | Published sanctions restriction as at 15 October 2026 | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational English Test (OET) | Yes — verification for nationals of sanctioned countries from 14 October 2026; no testing for residents of those jurisdictions | Book as normal, and have a residency document and an address document ready in case OET writes to you |
| TOEFL iBT (only with "Taking TOEFL for Australia" selected at registration) | Yes — paused within Iran; registrations and payments blocked for people ordinarily resident in Iran, including for appointments outside Iran | Not a workable option from inside Iran. Outside Iran, nationality alone is not a bar |
| IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training | Partly — IDP ended IELTS testing in Iran, last test 31 January 2026. No wider sanctions policy published | Available in Australia as normal; not available inside Iran |
| PTE Academic | Nothing published | Ask Pearson in writing before you book if your passport is from 1 of the 6 jurisdictions |
| CELPIP General | Nothing published | Ask Paragon Testing Enterprises in writing before you book |
| Cambridge C1 Advanced | Nothing published | Ask the test centre before you book |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | Nothing published | Ask the test centre before you book |
| Michigan English Test (MET) | Nothing published | Ask the test centre before you book |
That is 8 rows for 9 tests because Home Affairs counts IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training separately, and both sit on the same IDP and British Council delivery network. One more line from the same Home Affairs page is worth repeating here, because it bites people who try to solve a travel problem with a remote test: fully online, remote-proctored tests such as IELTS Online and OET@Home are not accepted for Australian visa English at all. If you cannot reach a secure test centre, a home test is not the fallback.
What this means for you
If you live in Australia and hold a passport from 1 of the 6 jurisdictions. Nothing stops you booking OET. What changes is that OET may write to you and ask for documents before test day, so the useful move is to have them scanned before you book: your Australian visa grant or residency evidence, and a driving licence, utility bill or tenancy agreement with your address on it. A hotel booking will not do, and a visitor visa is excluded by name.
If you are in one of those jurisdictions now. OET cannot test you or take your payment there, and ETS cannot register you for TOEFL even for an appointment in another country while you are ordinarily resident in Iran. Home Affairs' own notice of 3 September 2026 says the same thing in the mildest possible words: "Applicants in Iran who require an approved English language test for Australian visa purposes may wish to consider approved English language testing options available in other countries." That is a pointer to the other 8 tests on the list, not a promise that any of them will accept you.
If you already have a booking you may lose. Read the cancellation and transfer terms before you cancel anything — the notice periods and refund amounts are different for every owner, and we set them out test by test in moving or cancelling your English test in 2026. On the TOEFL side, ETS says appointments inside Iran were cancelled by 8 September 2026 and that "for cancelled appointments paid directly through an ETS account, a full refund will be issued to the original form of payment."
If this is for Ahpra, not a visa. The register of accepted tests is shorter than the visa list and the scores are different; they are in Ahpra English requirements for 2026. OET being the usual choice for health professionals is exactly why the 14 October change matters more to this group than to anyone else.
If your case turns on your own nationality, residence or visa status, that is a question for a registered migration agent, not for a blog post — check with your own registered migration agent. What is on this page is only what the test owners and Home Affairs have published.
FAQ
Can I take OET if I am an Iranian citizen living in Australia?
Nothing OET has published stops you. The 14 October 2026 notice says OET may contact you for verification and ask for proof that you reside outside a sanctioned country, plus confirmation that you are not affiliated with its government or another entity of that country.
Which countries does OET treat as sanctioned?
Its support page lists 6: Iran, Sudan, Syria, Cuba, North Korea and the Crimea Region of Ukraine. OET says it complies with United Nations Security Council sanctions and those of Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus those applying to its test delivery vendor Prometric.
Will a hotel booking work as proof of address?
No. OET says short-term accommodation reservations "demonstrate physical presence or temporary accommodation rather than residency." Use a driving licence, a recent utility bill in your name, or a tenancy or rental agreement.
Can I fly out of Iran and sit TOEFL somewhere else?
ETS says travelling does not by itself solve it: it cannot process registrations or payments for people ordinarily resident in Iran, including for appointments outside the country, and at-home testing is unavailable to Iran residents even while they are temporarily abroad.
Is my old TOEFL or IELTS result still valid?
Validity is a separate question from availability, and it is set by whoever reads the result. For Australian visas, results from tests taken on or before 6 August 2025 can be used until 6 August 2028 depending on the visa. IDP says IELTS results continue to be accepted where they were accepted before.
Which test should I take instead?
That depends on who is reading the score — a visa decision, Ahpra, a university and a Canadian immigration stream all accept different lists. The comparison is in the best English tests in 2026, and the TOEFL-specific traps for Australia are in why a TOEFL iBT result can be rejected for an Australian visa.
Does any of this change the scores I need?
No. Nothing in the 14 October 2026 notice touches score requirements. It is about who is allowed to register and sit, not about what counts as a pass.
A note on what is not known yet
OET has not published which nationalities it will contact, how long verification takes, or what happens to a booked test date while documents are being reviewed. Its notice says only that "our team will support affected candidates through the verification process and provide further information where required." Pearson and Paragon Testing Enterprises have published nothing on sanctions at all. We will update this page when any of them does.
Green School, an online school in Australia, has been preparing candidates for these tests since 2018 and is a Silver member of the CELPIP Network. Our course content does not change because of this notice — the documents do.
Sources
- OET, Important update for OET test takers who are permanent residents of a sanctioned country, dated 14 October 2026, checked 15 October 2026
- OET Support, Can I book the OET Test or purchase an OET product if I reside in a sanctioned country?, checked 15 October 2026
- ETS, Update on TOEFL and GRE Testing in Iran, checked 15 October 2026
- IDP IELTS, IELTS announcement, Iran, checked 15 October 2026
- Department of Home Affairs, English language testing services in Iran, dated 3 September 2026, checked 15 October 2026
- Department of Home Affairs, English language requirements, page last updated 2 February 2026, checked 15 October 2026
- Pearson, PTE news, checked 15 October 2026 — no sanctions notice published
- Paragon Testing Enterprises, CELPIP news, checked 15 October 2026 — no sanctions notice published