If you want to apply for immigration, you may be thinking whether IELTS is mandatory for you or not? Well, IELTS requirement depends from country to country for which you are applying to and the kind of visa it is . Apart from this, there are other exams too that you may prefer to register as English language proficiency exams such as PTE, TOEFL and others but IELTS is comparatively the most popular exam among the candidates willing to relocate to other countries. So it is important to note that IELTS for immigration is not compulsory but it is one of the recognized test for English proficieny by different countries.
Following are some of the most desirable immigration destinations in the world that offer PR (Permanent Resident) visas. Let us discuss IELTS requirement of each country to know more:
IELTS for Immigration to Canada
Recently, Canada government has created a pool system for making the immigration process convenient to the immigrants. This is called as Express Entry and it is mandatory for everyone to register for it, irrespective of the intended visa type. In order to get yourself registered here, you need to secure minimum points.
Depending upon your English language proficiency in IELTS and other factors, every candidate is assigned some points. The more points you secure, the better your chances are, to be invited for PR visa application. However, the minimum eligibility is CLB 7 level which means you must score minimum 6 Band in each module of IELTS in order to apply as Federal Skilled Worker. This criterion is different for Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience Class.
Therefore, if you achieve good score in IELTS, it would definitely boost up your points, letting you be closer towards your dream goal. And if you are really thinking about immigrating to Canada, then you look for the contry’s band score requirement from here.
IELTS for Immigration to Australia
Similar to Canada, point system is applicable in order to apply for Australia PR visa as well. To be eligible for immigration to Australia, you should obtain minimum 6 Band in each module of IELTS. And the more you score, you are going to gain more points and hence you would be benefitted when applying for immigration.
If you have obtained 6 Band in each module, you would get 0 points but you would still be eligible to apply and in this case, you need to make it up to the required points by combining points from other factors. On the other hand, you would get 10 points or 20 points for obtaining 7 Band and 8 Band respectively in each module of IELTS.
IELTS for Immigration to UK
England, in comparison to Canada and Australia, approves two tests viz. IELTS for UKVI and IELTS Life Skill as the English language tests. If you want to apply for settlement or you are applying for family visa to join your other family members residing in the UK, you need to appear in IELTS for UKVI. There are many routes to apply for visa to the UK viz. Tier 1, Tier 2 etc. which have different IELTS requirements.
To apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) which is similar to what you call as PR visa, you would need to appear in IELTS Life Skill at B1 (you must Pass) and IELTS for UKVI (you must score 4.0 in Speaking and Listening).
To sum up, you can say that IELTS is an essential test as a measure of English proficiency in order to apply for immigration in the top countries across the globe.