IELTS, PTE, Duolingo or MOI: Which English Test Each Country Accepts from Pakistan

The visa and the university are two different checks

Most confusion about IELTS vs PTE vs Duolingo comes from mixing up two separate checks. The university decides whether your English is good enough to admit you. The visa authority decides whether your English evidence meets its own rules. Sometimes that is the same test. Sometimes it is not.

A test can get you an offer and still fail the visa. Australia is the clearest case: some universities admit students on a Duolingo score, but the Department of Home Affairs does not accept Duolingo when it asks for English evidence. Check both lists before you book anything.

Results generally last two years. UK test results must have been awarded in the two years before your visa application, and Australia wants a test no more than two years old. Universities usually apply a similar window, so don't take the test a year before you have even shortlisted.

Which English test does each country accept?

This is the short version. The sections below explain the parts that catch people out.

Is Duolingo accepted for a UK student visa?

For a course at degree level or above, the Home Office lets a licensed university assess your English itself, at CEFR level B2. That is why one university takes a Duolingo score or an MOI letter and another insists on IELTS: each sets its own policy. Our post on studying in the UK without IELTS covers that route.

Below degree level — foundation years, pathway programmes and most pre-sessional English courses — you need a Secure English Language Test at B1 or higher. Only tests on the Home Office's list of approved SELTs, taken at an approved centre, count. Outside the UK the approved tests are these:

Duolingo, IELTS Academic and the UK interview

Duolingo is not a SELT. It can get you onto a degree at a university that accepts it, but not onto a foundation or pathway course that needs one. The same goes for ordinary IELTS Academic: the test content is the same as IELTS for UKVI, but only the UKVI version, booked as such at an approved centre, is a SELT.

One more check. If UKVI interviews you, the officer will notice if your spoken English does not match the score on your file. That gap can feed a credibility refusal even where the university waived the test. The rest of the route is in our UK student visa guide.

Canada and Australia: the lists that catch people out

Canada used to tie the test to the visa through the Student Direct Stream, which closed on 8 November 2024. In the regular stream IRCC sets no test for a study permit. Your college or university sets the requirement, and the officer reads your English evidence alongside your study plan. See our Canada student visa guide.

The catch comes later. A post-graduation work permit needs CELPIP General, IELTS General Training, PTE Core, or TEF or TCF Canada, at CLB 7 for a degree or CLB 5 for a college programme, and the result must be under two years old when you apply. IELTS Academic, PTE Academic and Duolingo don't count. IRCC lists the tests on its PGWP language results page.

Australia does set a list. For tests taken from 7 August 2025, the Department of Home Affairs accepts nine: IELTS Academic, IELTS General Training, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, Cambridge C1 Advanced, OET, CELPIP General, LanguageCert Academic and the Michigan English Test. Its English language requirements page says tests delivered completely online are not accepted, so Duolingo and at-home versions are out.

Whether you must attach a result at all depends on your passport and your provider, and the Document Checklist Tool tells you. If it asks, the test must be from that list and generally no more than two years old. More in our Australia student visa guide.

The US, Europe, Turkey, Malaysia and China: the university decides

The US has no visa-level English test. Your school decides what proves your English, and the designated school official records it on your Form I-20. TOEFL, IELTS and Duolingo are all widely accepted, and PTE at many schools. At the F-1 interview the officer is judging whether you are a genuine student, and a student who struggles to discuss their own programme invites the obvious doubt.

Germany, Italy and other European countries issue national student visas on the strength of your admission. The language requirement belongs to the programme. Many English-taught programmes accept a medium of instruction (MOI) letter from your Pakistani university, particularly at master's level; others insist on IELTS or TOEFL. Check the programme's own page, not an agent's summary.

Turkish universities set their own English requirement and often run a preparatory English year for students who don't meet it. Malaysian institutions set theirs, and EMGS checks the result if your programme asks for one. Chinese universities want IELTS, TOEFL or sometimes an MOI letter for English-taught programmes, and HSK for programmes taught in Chinese.

When is an MOI letter enough?

An MOI letter is a statement from your university that your degree was taught in English. It is quick to get and accepted more often than people expect — but only by universities, never where a visa authority requires a test.

It will not meet the UK's SELT requirement below degree level, Australia's list when the checklist asks for a test, or Canada's work permit language rule. Get it on university letterhead, signed by the registrar or controller of examinations, before you start applying. It tends to work for:

IELTS, PTE or Duolingo: which one should you take?

Start from the strictest requirement in your plan, not from the easiest test. In Pakistan, IELTS is run by the British Council and IDP, which both offer IELTS for UKVI too. PTE Academic, including the UKVI version, is run by Pearson at centres in the main cities. Duolingo is taken online at home. Book through the provider's own website, and check the GOV.UK list of approved centres before you book a UKVI test.