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LANGUAGECERT Academic and the Michigan English Test (MET) among the English tests accepted for Australian visas in 2026

LANGUAGECERT Academic and MET for an Australian visa in 2026: the exact scores — and the one level where MET is not listed

By Tatiana Green October 07, 2026 AHPRA, EN, English test, Home Affairs, IRCC, LANGUAGECERT, MET, student visa 500, visa English

LANGUAGECERT Academic and the Michigan English Test (MET) are both on the Department of Home Affairs list of approved tests for visa applications, but they do not reach the same height: LANGUAGECERT Academic is listed at all five English levels, up to Superior English (at least 80 listening, 83 reading, 89 writing, 89 speaking), while MET is listed at four levels and does not appear in the Superior English table at all. Neither test is accepted by Ahpra for health practitioner registration, and neither is accepted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for Express Entry — so for anyone whose plan includes registration or Canada, the two newest tests on Australia's list are the two that close doors.

Both tests joined the Australian list for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, alongside CELPIP General. Green School (formerly Green English), an online school in Australia, has been preparing students for Australian and Canadian English exams since 2018, and these two tests generate the same question every week: they are cheaper and faster, so what is the catch? The catch is coverage, and the tables below show exactly where it runs out.

The exact scores Home Affairs wants, level by level

All figures below are for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025 and come from the five Home Affairs English language pages, checked on 7 October 2026. The IELTS Academic column is there only as a familiar yardstick — it is the same official table, not a conversion.

English level LANGUAGECERT Academic Michigan English Test (MET) IELTS Academic (reference)
Functional Overall band score at least 38 Overall band score at least 38 Average band at least 4.5
Vocational 41 listening, 44 reading, 45 writing, 54 speaking 49 listening, 47 reading, 45 writing, 38 speaking 5 in each component
Competent 57 listening, 60 reading, 64 writing, 70 speaking 56 listening, 55 reading, 57 writing, 48 speaking 6 in each component
Proficient 67 listening, 71 reading, 78 writing, 82 speaking 61 listening, 63 reading, 74 writing, 59 speaking 7 in each component
Superior 80 listening, 83 reading, 89 writing, 89 speaking Not listed — MET does not appear in Table 1 of the Superior English page 8 in each component

The Superior row is the one that decides points. Superior English is the level worth the maximum English points in the skilled migration points test, and MET is simply not an option there. The test owner says so itself. Michigan Language Assessment's own Australia page lists four levels and stops: "Scores from your 4-skill MET taken on or after August 7, 2025, at an approved test center are accepted for Australian visa applications" — followed by Functional, Vocational, Competent and Proficient, with no Superior row.

This is the second test on the Australian list with a gap of this kind. Cambridge C1 Advanced is listed at all five levels but is excluded from the ELICOS concessions on the Student visa, which we set out in Cambridge C1 Advanced for an Australian visa in 2026. The pattern is the same: being "on the list" is not the same as being on the list everywhere.

What the two tests actually are

Feature LANGUAGECERT Academic Michigan English Test (MET)
Owner LANGUAGECERT, a business name of PeopleCert Qualifications Ltd Michigan Language Assessment, Ann Arbor, United States
Components Listening 40 min, Reading 50 min, Writing 50 min, Speaking 14 min Listening 35 min, Reading 65 min, Writing 45 min, Speaking 10 min
Total length 2 hours 34 minutes 155 minutes (2 hours 35 minutes)
Levels covered CEFR B1–C2 CEFR A2–C1 ("high-beginner to advanced")
Results Official results in 5 working days Typically within 5 days
Retake of one component No single-component retake named in the Home Affairs tables Single Section Retake (SSR) accepted by Home Affairs for eligible visas
Fee From AU$399.00 for the Test Centre option on the owner's Australian site Left blank deliberately: the owner publishes no public fee table, only a "Find your MET fee" lookup per test centre, so we do not quote a number we cannot source

The CEFR ceiling in that table is the reason the Superior row is empty. MET is described by its owner as covering "high-beginner to advanced (CEFR A2-C1)". Superior English sits above that band, and a test that does not claim C2 cannot be mapped to it. LANGUAGECERT Academic claims B1–C2, and it is listed at Superior.

Student visa subclass 500: both tests are in, with different numbers

The Student visa has its own table, separate from the five English levels, and both tests are in it. These are overall scores, not component scores, and they fall if the principal course is packaged with ELICOS. Caption on the Home Affairs page: "English language test scores (Test taken on or after 7 August 2025)".

Test No ELICOS With at least 10 weeks ELICOS With at least 20 weeks ELICOS
LANGUAGECERT Academic 61 54 46
MET 53 49 44
IELTS Academic (reference) 6.0 5.5 5.0
PTE Academic (reference) 47 39 31
C1 Advanced (reference) 161 Excluded Excluded

Note the shape of it: MET asks for less than LANGUAGECERT Academic at every column of the Student visa table, and it is the only test in the table that is cheaper on paper and still unavailable at Superior. A student visa today and a skilled visa in three years are two different decisions, and MET serves the first better than the second.

The three places neither test counts

LANGUAGECERT's own Australian page states: "LANGUAGECERT Academic is officially accepted by the Department of Home Affairs in Australia for all visa types that require proof of English language proficiency." That sentence is accurate and it is also narrower than it sounds — it is about visas. It says nothing about professional registration or about Canada, and in both of those places the answer is no.

Who is deciding LANGUAGECERT Academic MET What is accepted instead
Home Affairs — five English levels Yes, all five Yes, four of five (no Superior) 9 approved tests in total
Home Affairs — Student visa 500 Yes Yes Same table, 9 tests
Ahpra and the National Boards No No Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency, IELTS Academic, OET, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT
IRCC — Express Entry, Canada No No CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training, PTE Core (English); TEF Canada, TCF Canada (French)

Ahpra is explicit about the size of its list: "There are currently five English language tests that are accepted by National Boards" — Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency, IELTS Academic, OET, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT. Neither LANGUAGECERT Academic nor MET is among them, and Ahpra's minimum scores changed on 23 April 2026, so an older comparison table is not a safe guide. The profession-by-profession picture is in Does your health profession change the English score Ahpra wants?

IRCC is equally short. On its Express Entry language page, updated 22 June 2026, it says "You can take any of these approved language tests" and then names three English tests: CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core. A LANGUAGECERT or MET result cannot be entered into an Express Entry profile at all.

The at-home versions are not accepted — and one of them has stopped

Both tests sell an online, remote-proctored version. Neither version works for an Australian visa. The Home Affairs English level pages carry the same paragraph: "The department does not accept evidence from English language tests that are delivered completely online (also known as 'remote-proctored' or 'at-home')." The named examples include "LANGUAGECERT Academic Online" and "MET Digital (taken at-home)", alongside CELPIP Online, IELTS Online, OET@Home and TOEFL iBT - Home Edition.

For MET this is now moot. Michigan Language Assessment has posted a notice across its site: "Michigan Language Assessment is indefinitely pausing remote (at home) testing" — with the detail that "Registration for MET Remote (at home) testing will close on September 17, 2026, with final at-home testing on September 30, 2026. Testing at approved MET test centers is unaffected." As of today, at-home MET no longer exists to book.

For LANGUAGECERT the choice is still live and still easy to get wrong, because the online option is the cheapest one on the price list. The owner's Australian visa page offers a single exam type — Test Centre, at AU$399.00 — and the online option does not appear on that page at all. The price difference between the online and test-centre options is not a saving if the result cannot be used.

What this means for you

If your target is Superior English — the level that carries the most English points in the skilled migration points test — MET is not on the table and LANGUAGECERT Academic is, at 80 / 83 / 89 / 89. The full five-level picture across all nine approved tests is in The 5 English levels for an Australian visa in 2026, and the comparison of which test suits which goal is in Best English tests in 2026.

If your target is a Student visa, both tests are open to you, and MET's thresholds are the lower of the two at every ELICOS column. If your plan also involves Ahpra registration or Canadian permanent residence, choose a test that all of your decision-makers accept rather than a test that only Home Affairs accepts — otherwise you pay for two tests instead of one. Fees for the mainstream tests in Australia are set out in English test fees in Australia in 2026.

And whichever test you book, book the test-centre version, and book it with the passport you will use on the application. What our students report most often about these two tests is that the five-working-day result is genuinely faster than the alternatives — which matters when a visa lodgement date is close, and matters not at all if the wrong delivery mode makes the result unusable.

This page sets out public rules only. It is not migration advice for your situation; check your own case with a registered migration agent.

FAQ

Is LANGUAGECERT accepted for Australian PR?

LANGUAGECERT Academic is accepted by Home Affairs at all five English levels, including Superior English, for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025 at a test centre. Whether a particular permanent visa subclass accepts it at your level is set out on that subclass's own page, so check the subclass page as well as the English level page.

Why is MET not listed for Superior English?

Home Affairs does not publish a reason; the test simply does not appear in Table 1 of the Superior English page, and the owner's own Australian page lists only Functional, Vocational, Competent and Proficient. MET is described by its owner as covering CEFR A2 to C1, and Superior English sits above that band.

Can I take MET or LANGUAGECERT at home for my visa?

No. Home Affairs does not accept completely online or at-home delivery and names "LANGUAGECERT Academic Online" and "MET Digital (taken at-home)" as examples it does not accept. At-home MET has in any case been paused indefinitely, with the last at-home sitting on 30 September 2026.

Does Ahpra accept LANGUAGECERT or MET for nurses and doctors?

No. Ahpra and the National Boards accept five tests: Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency, IELTS Academic, OET, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT. The Medical Board of Australia additionally accepts NZREX and the PLAB test for medical registration.

Can I use a LANGUAGECERT or MET result for Canada?

Not for Express Entry. IRCC accepts CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core for English, and TEF Canada or TCF Canada for French. Results must be less than two years old when you complete your profile and when you submit your application for permanent residence.

How long can I use a result I took before 7 August 2025?

Home Affairs states: "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." It then adds that this will depend on the visa, so the subclass page is the last word.

Which of the two is faster?

Both publish a five-day turnaround: LANGUAGECERT gives official results in 5 working days, and Michigan Language Assessment says you "receive your results typically within 5 days". Five working days and five days are not the same window, so count calendar days back from your lodgement date, not business days.

Sources