For many Australian visa categories to determine that you have sufficient English language ability to be able to obtain a visa, Australian immigration requires in many cases that you take the IELTS examination if you are not a citizen of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland. You do not need to take the IELTS exam if you have gained a tertiary degree (equivalent to an Australian Bachelor’s degree or higher qualification) from a University where English is the medium of instruction.
You can take the IELTS exam in almost any country in the world. For contact details of institutions offering IELTS examinations, please click here. You should submit the results of your examination along with your main visa application. If you achieve a band score of “5” on the test, you would be considered as having “vocational” English. If you achieve a band score of “6” on the test, you would be considered as having “competent” English.
However, for points scoring purposes you will gain 10 points for proficient English or 20 points for superior English. If you gain enough points anyway then it may not matter so much if you do not gain points for English ability..
The IELTS consists of four parts: reading, writing, listening and speaking. For more details, please contact the institution nearest you offering the IELTS test.
