The UK Home Office does not accept every version of PTE Academic for visa purposes; only PTE Academic UKVI and PTE Home appear on its approved list of Secure English Language Tests. The table above lines up the CEFR level a visa route requires against the PTE Academic UKVI score you need in each skill. This page explains which PTE product to book and the conditions that apply to a SELT result. Information here is current as of 2026-09-26; the Home Office pages linked in our sources are the definitive record.
| Test | CEFR level | Minimum per skill |
|---|---|---|
| PTE Academic UKVI | B1 | 43 |
| PTE Academic UKVI | B2 | 59 |
| PTE Academic UKVI | C1 | 76 |
| PTE Academic UKVI | C2 | 85 |
| PTE Home A1 / A2 / B1 | A1 / A2 / B1 | Pass |
Only PTE Academic UKVI or PTE Home count as SELTs (not standard PTE Academic). Must be awarded in the two years before the application, at an approved test location.
Standard PTE Academic is not on the Home Office's approved SELT list. If you need to prove your English for a UK visa, you must book PTE Academic UKVI or, for lower CEFR levels, PTE Home specifically, at an approved test location.
PTE Academic UKVI is scored on the same 10 to 90 scale as standard PTE Academic and uses the same test format; what differs is that it is on the Home Office's approved SELT list and must be taken at an approved test location.
The Home Office's approved-test list sets a required PTE Academic UKVI score in each of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking for the CEFR level your visa route names, from B1 up to C2. All four skills need to individually clear the score for that level; a strong score in one skill does not offset a lower score in another.
These same B1 to C2 cut points also match the numbers on Pearson's own published CEFR chart for PTE Academic, so the UK's approved-test list and Pearson's general CEFR guidance agree at these four levels.
For visa routes that only require a lower CEFR level — A1, A2 or B1 — the Home Office's approved list also includes PTE Home, a separate test for which the list gives a Pass rather than a 10 to 90 score. Check your specific visa route's requirement before deciding whether PTE Academic UKVI or PTE Home is the right test to book.
The approved list gives PTE Home only for A1, A2 and B1, so routes requiring B2, C1 or C2 need PTE Academic UKVI's numeric score.
A SELT result must come from an approved test location, and the Home Office publishes separate lists of approved tests taken inside and outside the UK. Book through a listed provider and location rather than assuming any PTE test centre qualifies.
Your test result is valid for two years from the date it was awarded, and it must have been awarded within the two years before your application date. Check this window carefully if you are reusing an older result for a new application.
This page lists the PTE Academic UKVI score attached to each CEFR level, but it does not list which visa or settlement route requires which level; that mapping sits on the route's own Home Office guidance and can be updated separately from the approved-test list itself.
Look up your specific visa category or settlement route first to find the CEFR level it requires, then use the table above to find the PTE Academic UKVI score in each skill that satisfies it, checking the approved SELT lists linked in our sources for the current position.
