What IELTS Score Do You Need to Study in Australia, Canada or the UK?

“What band do I need?” has a different answer depending on which door you're walking through: a country's student visa, and the university or college that actually admits you, are separate requirements, and the visa side only has a number in some countries. This page lays out the figures for three English-speaking study destinations - Australia, Canada and the UK - each cited to its official source, with the gaps left as gaps rather than filled in with a guess.

Australia: Student visa (Subclass 500)

For IELTS tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, the Department of Home Affairs' Subclass 500 English-language requirement is set on a sliding scale: the amount of English preparation packaged with your course lowers the IELTS score you need to enter it.

Source: Australian Department of Home Affairs, Subclass 500 Student visa page, backed by the Migration (English Language Tests and Evidence Exemptions for Subclass 500 (Student) Visas) Instrument 2025, effective 7 August 2025. That 6.0 direct-entry baseline isn't new, though: it rose from 5.5 back in March 2024 under an earlier instrument, and the instrument that took effect on 7 August 2025 carried the same IELTS scores forward while updating the list of approved tests and the scores for some other tests - a reminder of how much these numbers move over time within the same country, not just between countries. Some applicants are exempt altogether (citizens who hold a valid passport from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand or Ireland - holders of only a British National (Overseas) passport are not covered and may still be asked for a test; 5+ years of English-medium study in specified countries; standalone ELICOS enrolment; some postgraduate-research cases) - check the official page for the current exemption list.

These are average band scores, not per-skill minimums: Schedule 1 of the Migration (English Language Tests and Evidence Exemptions for Subclass 500 (Student) Visas) Instrument 2025 (LIN 25/090) lists the IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training requirement only as an “average band score” of 6.0 / 5.5 / 5.0 across the three tiers above, with no minimum specified for any individual skill. Confirm any exemption you might qualify for directly on the Home Affairs page before you plan around it.

Canada: study permit (IRCC)

Here the honest answer is that there isn't a single number to quote. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada does not publish a minimum IELTS score for the study permit itself - its own eligibility page sets no language-score figure at all. The requirement instead comes from the Designated Learning Institution (DLI) and the specific programme you're admitted to; IRCC's own guidance says to contact the school you want to attend, which will tell you about things like language tests - not a number IRCC sets itself.

What we can report, clearly labelled as a university fact rather than a visa rule, is that undergraduate admission at two major Canadian universities sits in a similar range: the University of Toronto requires an overall band of 6.5 with no component below 6.0, and McGill University requires 6.5 overall with each component at 6.0 or better. That's a useful planning benchmark, but it comes from the universities, not from IRCC - a different institution or programme can set a different number.

UK: Student visa

The UK Home Office states its Student visa language requirement in CEFR terms, not IELTS bands directly: under Appendix Student to the Immigration Rules, most applicants have to show English at CEFR level B2 for a course at bachelor's degree level or above, or CEFR level B1 for a course below degree level (including pre-sessional courses). A few groups are exempt (for example nationals of some majority-English-speaking countries, or people with a UK school qualification or degree) - check the GOV.UK Student visa page. Where a Secure English Language Test (SELT) is required, your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) has to record the test provider, the test's unique reference number and your score in each of the four skills. If you are studying at degree level or above with a higher education provider that has a track record of compliance, the provider can instead assess your English itself and state on the CAS that it has done so and how (GOV.UK Student visa guidance: the assessment must still be equivalent to CEFR B2).

The IELTS-band equivalent of each CEFR level is set out in the Home Office's list of approved secure English language tests (it is not printed on the main Student visa page). IELTS for UKVI is delivered by the approved provider, the “IELTS SELT Consortium”; IELTS itself is jointly owned by the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. IELTS.org publishes the same figures for IELTS for UKVI:

For a course below degree level or a pre-sessional course (B1) you need a Secure English Language Test - for IELTS, the IELTS for UKVI version - with 4.0 in each of the four components. For a degree-level course (B2), a higher education provider with a track record of compliance can assess your English itself and may accept a regular IELTS Academic result with 5.5 in each of the four components (IELTS.org lists “IELTS or IELTS for UKVI” for degree level) - ask your university which test it accepts before you book.

That “in each component” matters: either way, an averaged overall score is not enough - every one of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking has to clear the threshold on its own. An IELTS for UKVI result also has to be less than 2 years old on the date you apply.

Typical university admission bands (a separate requirement from the visa)

Even once any visa minimum is covered, the university or course you're applying to sets its own - usually higher - English requirement, and it varies by course within the same university. A few official examples:

Among the universities checked here, undergraduate English requirements run from about IELTS 6.0 up to 7.5 overall. Sydney, Toronto and McGill ask for 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0 as their standard, and Manchester is usually 6.0-7.0 depending on the course. Many Sydney courses sit higher (7.0 to 7.5 overall - see the table), and Manchester's MBChB Medicine asks for 7.0 overall with no component below 6.5; some individual components are higher still (Sydney Education asks for 8.0 in Speaking and Listening). That's a pattern from those universities only, not a fixed rule: Canadian and other UK courses, and every course you are considering, should be checked on their own pages.

Where there is no single number

Two gaps are worth naming directly, rather than papering over with a guess:

• A single “Canada study permit IELTS score” - IRCC sets none; it's your institution and programme that set the number, and it varies between them.
• University of Melbourne sets its English requirement per course - each course page states a level or specific test requirement (the University's Level 1 is IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 6.0 in each band) - so check the course page you are applying to.

For any of these, and for any course or visa subclass not named above, the honest instruction is the same: it varies by visa subclass, course and institution - check the relevant government or university's own current page before you decide anything.

So what band should you actually prepare for?

Put the numbers above together and a rough planning range emerges for the universities checked here: undergraduate entry runs from about IELTS 6.0 to 7.5 overall, with some individual components higher still (Sydney Education asks for 8.0 in Speaking and Listening) - but your own actual number depends on the specific visa subclass, course and institution you choose, confirmed on their own current page, not on this one.

Before you can plan toward any of that, you need to know where you're starting from. The IELTS band score calculator converts raw practice-test results into an estimated band for each skill and an overall score, so you have a real starting point instead of a guess. From there, the band improvement timeline lays out realistic, source-checked ranges for how long moving from your starting band to your target might take.

1:1 sessions with Mike then target whichever skill is actually holding your overall band down, rather than working through a fixed syllabus. Mike is CELTA-certified (Cambridge), has taught English and IELTS for 12 years across Vietnam, Turkey and Iran, and currently teaches 250 students across 10 classes at Newton Grammar School in Hanoi; his own IELTS result is 7.5 overall with 8.5 in Speaking. Regular 1:1 online IELTS coaching is 500,000 ₫ for 60 minutes in Vietnam, live over Google Meet. If your application deadline is close, intensive prep before a set test date covers how sessions can be booked closer together instead of spread over months. Vietnamese readers can find the same figures on the Vietnamese version of this page.

Band Booster IELTS does not guarantee any band score, outcome, or visa or admissions decision. The figures on this page are a starting orientation for planning your preparation, not a substitute for the official government or university page that actually decides your case.