If you have proved your English once before, it is reasonable to assume you never have to do it again. Since 8 January 2026 that is often not the case. This article is for applicants working out whether they need a test before their next Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker application.

The Skilled Worker route now requires English at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, in all four components: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Before 8 January 2026 the level was B1.

There is one carry-over. If your most recent permission was as a Skilled Worker and it was granted subject to a B1 requirement, B1 still applies to your next Skilled Worker application. In every other case the requirement is B2.

You meet the requirement if you have already shown you met it, at the level required for the application you are making now, in a previous successful application for entry clearance or permission to stay.

The phrase "at the level required for your current application" is what catches people out. A pass at B1 does not automatically satisfy a B2 requirement. Whether it carries over depends on what your most recent permission was, not on what you once proved.

Likely fine. You were last granted permission as a Skilled Worker under the old B1 requirement and you are now extending as a Skilled Worker. B1 still applies and your earlier evidence should be enough.

Likely a new test. You proved English at B1 for a Skilled Worker visa some years ago, then moved onto a different route such as a dependant partner visa, and you are now applying as a Skilled Worker again. Your most recent permission was not as a Skilled Worker, so the B1 carry-over does not apply and you will need to meet B2.

A new test. You have never proved English for a UK application, or you only did so on a route where a lower level applied.

If you are not sure which of these you are, send your caseworker the dates and visa types of every permission you have held, including any periods as a dependant. The Home Office checks your immigration history on its own systems, so what matters is the record rather than what you remember.

A degree can be used instead of a test, but only where the qualification was actually awarded. A course you started and did not finish cannot be used, however far through it you got, because the evidence required is a certificate, transcript or official letter from the awarding institution confirming the award. There is no partial credit for study.

A bachelor's degree, master's or doctorate awarded in the UK is accepted on its own. A degree from elsewhere that was taught or researched in English needs an assessment from Ecctis confirming it meets the UK standard.

If you have no completed degree and no previous pass to rely on, a test is the route. Book it early. Test availability, rather than the visa application itself, is usually what sets the timeline.

The test must be an approved Secure English Language Test and must be sat at a test centre approved by UK Visas and Immigration. This is why an ordinary IELTS certificate is not accepted: the exam content is the same, but it was not the UKVI version taken at an approved centre. Look for the test described as "for UKVI".

IELTS for UKVI is offered in an Academic and a General Training version, both from the same approved provider. Candidates often report General Training as the more straightforward of the two. Check the current approved test list on GOV.UK for the level each version certifies before you book, and tell your caseworker which one you are taking. Other approved providers include Trinity College London, LANGUAGECERT, Pearson and, outside the UK, PSI Services.

All four components must be taken at the same sitting. Results from different sittings cannot be combined.

A certificate is valid for two years, but if it was used in a previous successful UK visa application it can be relied on again after that.

An application cannot be submitted until the English requirement is evidenced, so a missing test is one of the most common reasons a case sits paused. If your permission expires soon and you do not yet have a test booked, tell your caseworker now rather than waiting for the application to stall. Applying before your current permission expires is what protects your status while a decision is pending.

For the sponsor side of this, including when to assign a CoS and what happens if an application is refused on language grounds, see English Language Requirements for the Skilled Worker Visa.

Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-english