# IELTS test - spouse visa (English language requirement)



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

As I understand it there are two types of IELTS test, one is academic and is other is training. Can anyone tell me which is required for the spouse visa?

The UKBA website states it needs to be level B1 that not which one.

Thank you


----------



## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/new-approved-english-tests.pdf


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

Thank you very much, it looks like either the academic or training ones are ok.


----------



## abidabzhussain (Jan 24, 2013)

the requirement when i applied was A1 , have they moved it to B1 now?


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

abidabzhussain said:


> the requirement when i applied was A1 , have they moved it to B1 now?


I don't think IELTS has a level A1, I think it starts with level B1. I believe the Cambridge tests and the BULATS have level A1 and maybe some others.

Which test did your husband do? And at what level?


----------



## abidabzhussain (Jan 24, 2013)

we had a test done by ETS TOEIC.... its on the ukba list....

for spouse visa A1 is required ... something like 60 marks out of 400 in listening and 50 marks out of 200 for speaking i guess...

.. but he cleared it at C1 level... he had 10 marks less then total marks in listening and 20 less from total marks in speaking...


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

abidabzhussain said:


> we had a test done by ETS TOEIC.... its on the ukba list....
> 
> for spouse visa A1 is required ... something like 60 marks out of 400 in listening and 50 marks out of 200 for speaking i guess...
> 
> .. but he cleared it at C1 level... he had 10 marks less then total marks in listening and 20 less from total marks in speaking...


My husband is applying in karachi so I think the only option is IELTS, my husband's English is very good though, so we should be ok.

Good luck with your application.


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

My husband and I are having a last minute freak out session, after having a look at the IELTS test papers, we've realised that they are not as easy as we assumed! I'm a native English speaker and I found the level of English required is close to native proficiency!

My husband is due to sit the IELTS level B1 - can somebody confirm for me what score he needs? I believe it's 4.0 in speaking and listening - is this correct?

So if he doesn't pass writing and reading that's still fine?

Thank you!


----------



## 0sman (May 4, 2013)

Anxious_wife said:


> My husband and I are having a last minute freak out session, after having a look at the IELTS test papers, we've realised that they are not as easy as we assumed! I'm a native English speaker and I found the level of English required is close to native proficiency!
> 
> My husband is due to sit the IELTS level B1 - can somebody confirm for me what score he needs? I believe it's 4.0 in speaking and listening - is this correct?
> 
> ...


I suggest you change it to a simple A1 english test, my wife done the BECTA IESOL at level A1 and it was easy for her, I think she got full marks, from what I've heard IELTS at B1 is pretty difficult for non-english speakers. At the end of the day, the recommendation for a spouse visa by UKBA is A1 LEVEL, so if you sit B1, even if it is a more difficult test than A1, they might not accept it as we all know how illogical and down right stupid the UKBA officer's are.


----------



## abidabzhussain (Jan 24, 2013)

Getting 4 band is a piece of cake for a reasonably educated Pakistani... I have seen very average English speakers ending up with an Overall band of 4.5 to 5.5..

Remember schooling in Pakistan is done in English mostly. 

But having said that , no doubt that A1 is very easy compared to IELTS because you only sit for listening and speaking test. and in listening you need like 60 marks out of 495 and in speaking 50 out of 200.


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

0sman said:


> I suggest you change it to a simple A1 english test, my wife done the BECTA IESOL at level A1 and it was easy for her, I think she got full marks, from what I've heard IELTS at B1 is pretty difficult for non-english speakers.


Where did she do her test? My husband is from Quetta so the nearest place he can do a test is Karachi. I think only IELTS is available in Karachi... Do you know if there is a test centre for BECTA IESOL in Karachi? 

Honestly the tests were ridiculous, one test paper was talking about 'trends and uses' of newspapers in the Western world in the last half century, the paper was using highly specialised media terminology and lexis you would expect a native speaker to understand, not a learner of English. How on earth is a non-native speaker meant to grasp what they are talking about?!


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

abidabzhussain said:


> Getting 4 band is a piece of cake for a reasonably educated Pakistani... I have seen very average English speakers ending up with an Overall band of 4.5 to 5.5..
> 
> Remember schooling in Pakistan is done in English mostly.
> 
> But having said that , no doubt that A1 is very easy compared to IELTS because you only sit for listening and speaking test. and in listening you need like 60 marks out of 495 and in speaking 50 out of 200.


For IELTS does he need a 4.0 for reading, writing, speaking and listening? Or just speaking and listening?


----------



## 0sman (May 4, 2013)

Anxious_wife said:


> Where did she do her test? My husband is from Quetta so the nearest place he can do a test is Karachi. I think only IELTS is available in Karachi... Do you know if there is a test centre for BECTA IESOL in Karachi?
> 
> Honestly the tests were ridiculous, one test paper was talking about 'trends and uses' of newspapers in the Western world in the last half century, the paper was using highly specialised media terminology and lexis you would expect a native speaker to understand, not a learner of English. How on earth is a non-native speaker meant to grasp what they are talking about?!


Here is the website where we found the english test company:

a1, English Test, Spouse, Visa - Islamabad - Language Classes - best english language centre islamabad

According to them, B1 is for student Visas so looks like your husband is studying for the wrong test, he should be taking the A1 preliminary test for UK spouse visas. I'm not sure about test centres in karachi, you could, however give BECTA a call and ask them if they do have test centres in Karachi.


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

0sman said:


> Here is the website where we found the english test company:
> 
> a1, English Test, Spouse, Visa - Islamabad - Language Classes - best english language centre islamabad
> 
> According to them, B1 is for student Visas so looks like your husband is studying for the wrong test, he should be taking the A1 preliminary test for UK spouse visas. I'm not sure about test centres in karachi, you could, however give BECTA a call and ask them if they do have test centres in Karachi.


Do you need to pass all parts, or just speaking and listening?


----------



## 0sman (May 4, 2013)

Anxious_wife said:


> Do you need to pass all parts, or just speaking and listening?



If you go on to this link:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/new-approved-english-tests.pdf

and scroll down to:

City & Guilds 
International ESOL 
(IESOL) Diploma

My wife took this test (at the BECTA UK test centre in ISLAMABAD) and according to that link you only need to "pass" speaking and listening. I have no idea about any other tests so I won't like to comment on them.


----------



## ashconnell (Jun 2, 2013)

The B1 is pretty straight forward;if I remember correctly, it has 4 components reading,listening,writing and speaking. As long as your hubby is proficient he should be ok. I took it almost 3 years ago and it was a breeze. Best advice would be to go with an easier test though,if available...


----------



## carlaarend (Feb 10, 2014)

Anxious_wife said:


> Do you need to pass all parts, or just speaking and listening?


Here in Auckland the only option available last January was the IELTS. I freaked out the day I did my inscription because I didn't had actually had the time to study - and it seems to be really hard, as most of the people pay training courses before to do the test. Even living around 2 years in a English Speaking country, I wasn't confident.

For me, listening was the most tricky part, but let your husband to know that the first part of the test is the most easy, if he do well in the first is all good. I did the free samples available in the IELTS Website before the test, it was usefull to understand the logic of the test. Needs to really concentrate and don't think in anything else during the listening test. Highly recomend to do the samples available online!

I'm just writing to try help you to calm down, it is not an easy test, but score a 4.0 will not be hard if he can comunicate in English. :fingerscrossed:


----------



## Anxious_wife (Mar 11, 2013)

carlaarend said:


> Here in Auckland the only option available last January was the IELTS. I freaked out the day I did my inscription because I didn't had actually had the time to study - and it seems to be really hard, as most of the people pay training courses before to do the test. Even living around 2 years in a English Speaking country, I wasn't confident.
> 
> For me, listening was the most tricky part, but let your husband to know that the first part of the test is the most easy, if he do well in the first is all good. I did the free samples available in the IELTS Website before the test, it was usefull to understand the logic of the test. Needs to really concentrate and don't think in anything else during the listening test. Highly recomend to do the samples available online!
> 
> I'm just writing to try help you to calm down, it is not an easy test, but score a 4.0 will not be hard if he can comunicate in English. :fingerscrossed:


Hello,

Thank you for your response. My husband has now done his test and he passed with flying colours thankfully.

He did NO revision and did not look at the past papers etcetera which I would not recommend to anyone, but thankfully he passed. He and I communicate in English only and there are very rare instances when we can't understand each other so it makes sense that he passed his test. 

Yes I think the listening was also the test he found most challenging, but not because of the language used, but the speaker's accents. I believe he said one of the listening tests had a Scottish speaking lady speaking on the tape and I know he finds strong Scottish accents difficult to understand but it didn't hinder him and he passed.

Good luck with your test!


----------



## carlaarend (Feb 10, 2014)

Anxious_wife said:


> Hello,
> 
> Thank you for your response. My husband has now done his test and he passed with flying colours thankfully.
> 
> ...


Congrats! I also did the test and had a really good score! =D is not as difficult as it sounds =)


----------



## Hertsfem (Jun 19, 2013)

My daughter in law did her test in Harare and got her results yesterday


Listening 7.5 
Reading 7.0 
Writing 6.0 
Speaking 8.5

Average 7.5


----------



## James50 (Mar 3, 2014)

Although this issue has now been resolved, I might just add that, at first, IELTS looks daunting even for native speakers, until you get used to the format. There's a patterns to all IELTS tests, and once you're familiar with it, you suddenly find yourself scoring really well, even getting most of the questions correct even if you are an average speaker.

So my advice to all who take this test is not to be put off by how hard it seems at first. Just practise a few past tests and you will be surprised how quickly you will improve. Learn the kinds of traps they set (they are really predictable after a while), and the different kind of questions they set (again, really predictable after some practise). 

As others have pointed out, there are some very easy questions in the IELTS test that almost everyone who knows a little English should be able to answer correctly. And to get 4.0 (the required band pass for a UK spouse Visa), you only need to get 12 out of 40 questions right in the listening section and 15 out of 40 questions right in reading for the General Training test or 12 out of 40 for the Academic test.


I think though that some discretion may well be used if you pass the listening and speaking parts (4.0 or better) and don't get the 4.0 they ask for in the reading and writing sections.


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Tried a few practice tests and scored C2, but you need to know idiomatic English instead of translationese, and for non-native speakers you just need to learn those expressions, such as 'talk the talk' meaning just talking about something without actually putting into practice. 
To score A1 or even B1 should be really easy, judging from my experience of learning languages.


----------



## James50 (Mar 3, 2014)

Joppa said:


> Tried a few practice tests and scored C2, but you need to know idiomatic English instead of translationese, and for non-native speakers you just need to learn those expressions, such as 'talk the talk' meaning just talking about something without actually putting into practice.
> To score A1 or even B1 should be really easy, judging from my experience of learning languages.


Yes, I think you've nailed it! (note use of idiomatic term )

I think the IELTS is overkill for spouse visas, but as you say, it isn't really as hard as it looks.


----------



## bsh444 (Jun 20, 2014)

*Language Level for Residence*

You may look at the Home Office website. The required level is Common European Framework B1 for spouse. This is IELTS of 4.0-4.5; Usually the General Module is required for immigration purposes and Academic Module for educational purposes. the General one is easier to pass. Some governments accept Academic for immigration, but as an example Canada accepts only General Module for immigration purposes. 

There is a Cambridge test that is acceptable as well: Preliminary English Test (PET) but you need to score above 70/100. Overall, any English test can be used for residence, but that might take longer to process your application. The easiest way is to go for IELTS General Module.

I would like to add, IELTS is challenging. If you are familiar with the format and test taking skills, it's an easy exam to pass even if your English is not good enough!


----------



## melbina (May 14, 2014)

bsh444 said:


> You may look at the Home Office website. The required level is Common European Framework B1 for spouse. This is IELTS of 4.0-4.5; Usually the General Module is required for immigration purposes and Academic Module for educational purposes. the General one is easier to pass. Some governments accept Academic for immigration, but as an example Canada accepts only General Module for immigration purposes.
> 
> There is a Cambridge test that is acceptable as well: Preliminary English Test (PET) but you need to score above 70/100. Overall, any English test can be used for residence, but that might take longer to process your application. The easiest way is to go for IELTS General Module.
> 
> I would like to add, IELTS is challenging. If you are familiar with the format and test taking skills, it's an easy exam to pass even if your English is not good enough!


Hello, can someone confirm to me wich english test is acceptable for spouse visa, ielts general training or academic ?
Thank yoou in advance.


----------



## Hertsfem (Jun 19, 2013)

melbina said:


> Hello, can someone confirm to me wich english test is acceptable for spouse visa, ielts general training or academic ?
> Thank yoou in advance.



General


----------



## melbina (May 14, 2014)

Hertsfem said:


> General


thank you for the response, the problem is that there are no suitable dates for the general training. is it ok if I do the academic one ?


----------

