When your English test must have been taken: the visas that read it at the invitation, the visas that read it at lodgement, and the result that expires while you wait

MARN 1576536

The two dates: invitation and lodgement

Every visa with an English requirement states it as a criterion to be satisfied at a particular time, and the time is one of two. The points-tested skilled visas, which are applied for only on an invitation issued from an expression of interest, assess the points and the English requirement at the time of the invitation, because the invitation was issued on the claims in the expression of interest and the Department checks that those claims were true on that day. Every other visa with an English requirement assesses it at the time of application, the day the application is lodged, or in a few cases at the time of decision. The window, the period before that date within which the test must have been taken, is set for each visa by a legislative instrument, which the Department changes from time to time, and the current instrument for the visa is the authority; the figures in this guide are those in force at the date above. The test provider's statement that a result is valid for two years is a statement about the provider's own policy and has no bearing on any of it.

The skilled visas: thirty-six months before the invitation

For the 189, the 190 and the 491, the applicant must have had at least competent English at the time of the invitation, shown by a specified test taken in the thirty-six months immediately before the date of the invitation or by a passport exemption, and the points for proficient or superior English are awarded only for a test within the same window showing those scores at the invitation date. The window is counted back from the invitation date, so a test taken on 1 March 2024 supports an invitation issued up to and including the corresponding date in 2027, on the Department's counting, and not one issued the week after. The expression of interest records the test reference and date, and the Department verifies the result with the provider from that reference after the invitation; an expression of interest that records a test outside the window at the invitation is an expression of interest that claimed points it could not have, which is read under the mistakes heading below. The skilled English guide sets out the three levels and the points, and the invitation checklist what must be in hand on the day.

The test that expires while you wait

An expression of interest can sit for two years, and invitations for many occupations come late or not at all, so the commonest timing problem is a test that was inside the window when the expression of interest was lodged and outside it when the invitation arrives. The applicant watches the date: a test that will leave the window within the next several months is retaken while the old one is still valid, and the expression of interest is updated with the new result the day it issues, which keeps the claim true on whatever day the invitation comes; an applicant who waits for the old test to expire and then books a sitting has a gap in which an invitation would be wasted. The same discipline applies to the skills assessment, which has its own validity read at the invitation and which the expired assessment guide covers, and to anything else the points depend on. An applicant invited with an expired test, who cannot meet the invited score without it, lets the invitation lapse rather than lodging an application that will be refused with the charge lost, retakes the test, updates the expression of interest and waits for the next round, which the expression of interest guide covers.

The test taken after the invitation

The criteria for the points-tested visas are satisfied or not at the invitation date, and a test taken after that date, however good its scores, was not held at the relevant time and is not counted for that invitation; an applicant invited on 15 June who sits a test on 20 June and lodges with it has lodged on points that were not true on 15 June, and the application is assessed on the points that were, which without the test are fewer. If the points that can be proved at the invitation date still meet the score stated in the invitation, the application can be granted on them; if they do not, it is refused, with the visa application charge not refunded and, where the Department reads the claim as false rather than mistaken, with the three-year bar under public interest criterion 4020 in play. The applicant invited without a valid test therefore decides, within the sixty days, between lodging on provable points and letting the invitation lapse, and the consultation makes that arithmetic before the charge is paid. For the lodgement-based visas the position is the opposite: the test may be taken at any time before the application is lodged, and the only timing question is the window counted back from that day.

The employer-sponsored visas: read at lodgement

The 482 requires the applicant to have the English level for the stream at the time of application, shown by a specified test taken within the period the instrument sets before the application is made, three years under the instruments in force at the date above, or by an exemption; the 494 is read the same way; and the 186 requires competent English at the time of application with the same kind of window, and for the Temporary Residence Transition stream it is read at the 186 application, not at the earlier 482. The test is therefore taken before lodgement and inside the window counted back from the lodgement date, and an employer and a worker planning a nomination and a visa plan the test date with the lodgement date, so that a worker whose test was taken two years and ten months before the intended lodgement is not caught by a delay in the nomination. The scores by stream are in the scores guide, and the English refusal is among the commonest 482 refusals, which the employer's refusal guide covers from the sponsor's side. An application lodged without a test, in the expectation of supplying one in response to a request, is in the ordinary case assessed against the criterion as at lodgement, and the later test does not cure it; the test is in hand before the application is made.

The 485, the student visa and the rest

The 485 Temporary Graduate visa requires the English level at the time of application, with a test taken within the window the instrument sets before the application, which has been shorter than the skilled visas' window under the instruments in force, so a graduate relying on a test taken early in the course checks the window against the intended 485 lodgement date and re-sits where it will not reach. The student visa requires the test, where one is required, to have been taken within the window set for student visas before the application, also shorter than three years. The business innovation and investment visas, the training visa and the other visas with an English criterion each read it at the time their criteria state, with their own windows and exemptions, and the applicant for any of them reads the instrument for that visa. There is no general three-year rule; there is a rule for each visa, and the one that matters is the one for the visa being applied for on the day it is applied for.

Partner points and the partner's test

An applicant for a points-tested visa who claims points for a partner claims them on the partner's position at the invitation date: the lower partner points require the partner to have had competent English at that date, shown by a test within the thirty-six months before it or a passport exemption, and the higher partner points require, in addition, a skills assessment for the partner's occupation on the same list and the partner being under the age limit, all at the invitation date. A partner whose test expires before the invitation gives no partner points, the applicant's score falls, and the application may fall below the invited score; the partner's test is watched and retaken on the same schedule as the applicant's, and the partner's details in the expression of interest are updated the same way. A partner who takes the test after the invitation is in the position of the previous heading, and an applicant whose partner points were the margin loses the margin.

The single-component retake

Under the instrument that took effect on 13 September 2025, the Department accepts for some visas a result produced by re-sitting a single component of a test the applicant had already taken, where the provider offers that option and issues a combined result, so that an applicant who met every band but writing re-sits writing alone rather than the whole test; the providers that offer it, the visas that accept it, and how the combined result's date is read for the validity window are set by the instrument and the provider's terms, and an applicant checks both before relying on it. For the applicant who fell short in one component by a small margin it is cheaper and faster than a full re-sit and it is the first thing to look at; for an applicant whose original sitting is near the end of the window it may not help, because the window is read from the date the instrument provides. The scores guide lists the accepted tests.

The exemptions

An applicant who holds a passport issued by the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland is taken to have competent English for most visas without a test, which satisfies the English requirement and gives the points for competent English and no more; proficient and superior points need a test whatever the passport. Some visas exempt an applicant who completed a stated number of years of study in English at a stated level, and some employer-sponsored streams have at various times exempted applicants above a salary level or in particular circumstances, each by instrument; none of those is a general exemption and each is read for the visa in question. An applicant relying on an exemption for one visa who later applies for another finds that the second visa may not have it, and an applicant with a passport exemption who wants proficient English points sits the test like everyone else.

The mistakes that turn a valid result into a refusal

• The expression of interest not updated. A new test sat and passed, and the expression of interest still showing the old reference; the Department verifies the reference it was given.
• The wrong test type. A test accepted for one visa and not another, or a general training result where an academic one is required for the visa or the skills assessment.
• Reading the provider's validity instead of the visa's window. Two years, three years, neither is the rule.
• Counting the window from the wrong date. From lodgement for a skilled visa, or from the invitation for a 482.
• The partner's test forgotten. Partner points claimed on a partner's test that expired first.
• Lodging and hoping. An application lodged without a result, expecting to supply one on request; the criterion is read at lodgement.
• The result not uploaded. A valid test the Department cannot verify because the reference was mistyped or the result not provided.

The test-date checklist

1. Name the visa and whether it reads the test at the invitation or at lodgement.
2. Find the window for that visa in the current instrument, and count it back from that date.
3. If the test will leave the window within the likely wait, re-sit now and update the expression of interest the day the result issues.
4. Do the same for the partner's test and the skills assessment.
5. If invited without a valid test, work out the provable points before paying the charge, and let the invitation lapse if they do not reach the invited score.
6. For a lodgement-based visa, have the result in hand and inside the window before lodging, and check whether a single-component retake is open to you.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. The English language criteria of each visa subclass in Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994, the points test in Schedule 6D, and the legislative instruments specifying the English tests, scores, periods and exemptions for each visa, including the instrument in effect from 13 September 2025, all as in force at the date above; the windows and exemptions are set by instrument and change, and the instrument in force for the visa on the relevant date governs. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.