The one thing to get right: the product name
Every approved provider also sells English exams that the Home Office will not accept, often under a similar name. A booking is not refunded because you chose the wrong one. For citizenship and settlement, these are the exams to book:
- Trinity College London: Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 5 — B1, speaking and listening
- IELTS SELT Consortium: IELTS Life Skills – B1 Speaking & Listening
- LanguageCert: LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening)
- Pearson: PTE Home B1 — speaking and listening
Side by side
Fees are shown only where the provider publishes a flat UK price on its own website. Some do not, and no figure has been invented for them — treat any site quoting one national IELTS or PTE price with suspicion. Centre counts are from the Home Office list of approved UK centres dated 11 August 2026, which holds 80 centres in total.
| Provider | Exam to book at B1 | Published UK fee | Approved UK centres | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity College London | Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 5 — B1, speaking and listening | £160 for any GESE exam, including the B1 GESE Grade 5. £200 for ISE exams. An optional add-on called Exam Protect costs £35 on top of the exam fee and allows the candidate to book one retake and reschedule once. | 20 | UK only |
| IELTS SELT Consortium | IELTS Life Skills – B1 Speaking & Listening | Not published as a flat UK price | 16 | UK and outside the UK |
| LanguageCert | LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening) | From £160 for the two-skills Speaking and Listening exams at A1, A2 and B1. From £200 for the four-skills Academic and General SELT exams. LanguageCert presents these as 'Price from', so the amount can vary by location. | 22 | UK and outside the UK |
| Pearson | PTE Home B1 — speaking and listening | Not published as a flat UK price | 22 | UK and outside the UK |
Every provider in the table is equally valid for a citizenship or settlement application. GOV.UK: ‘It is for you to decide which test to take.’
Which exam to book at each CEFR level
B1 is the level for citizenship and settlement, but the same 4 providers run the A1 and A2 exams used on the family visa route and the four-skills exams used for work and study. Each provider appears below at every level it is approved for, so the choice is rarely about which level a provider can offer — it is about price, format and which centre you can reach. Each exam name here is taken from that provider’s own list of Home Office-approved products; approval is not a promise that a given centre runs that exam, which only the booking system can confirm.
A1 English test
The first application on a partner, spouse or parent family visa. GOV.UK's family visa guidance says: 'You must pass at least level A1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale for your first visa application. You can choose to take a higher level test.' A1 is also the level for a Representative of an Overseas Business visa and an International Sportsperson visa. Taking B1 straight away at this stage is allowed and can save a later test: 'If you pass level B1 or higher, you can use your test result again when you apply for settlement after 5 years.'
- Trinity College London
- Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 2 — A1, speaking and listening
- IELTS SELT Consortium
- IELTS Life Skills – A1 Speaking & Listening
- LanguageCert
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT A1 (Speaking & Listening)
- Pearson
- PTE Home A1 — speaking and listening
A2 English test
The family visa extension after 2.5 years, but only for people whose first test was at A1. GOV.UK: 'If you passed: level A1, you'll need to pass at least level A2 in speaking and listening; level A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2, you can use the test result again for your application as long as your test certificate has not been withdrawn by the test provider.' Someone who was exempt first time round 'will need to pass a test at level A1' at the extension stage.
- Trinity College London
- Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 3 — A2, speaking and listening
- IELTS SELT Consortium
- IELTS Life Skills – A2 Speaking & Listening
- LanguageCert
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT A2 (Speaking & Listening)
- Pearson
- PTE Home A2 — speaking and listening
B1 English test
Settlement (indefinite leave to remain) and naturalisation as a British citizen, for applications made before 26 March 2027. This is the level the phrase 'the B1 English test' almost always refers to.
- Trinity College London
- Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 5 — B1, speaking and listening
- Integrated Skills in English I (ISE I) — B1, four skills
- IELTS SELT Consortium
- IELTS Life Skills – B1 Speaking & Listening
- IELTS for UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
- LanguageCert
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening)
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1, B2, C1, C2 (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking)
- LanguageCert Academic SELT — four skills, B1 to C2
- LanguageCert General SELT — four skills, B1 to C1
- Pearson
- PTE Home B1 — speaking and listening
- PTE Academic UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
B2 English test
Work routes such as Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, Scale-up Worker, High Potential Individual, Minister of Religion, Innovator Founder and Start-up, and degree-level Student visas, where Appendix English Language requires 'knowledge of English equivalent to level B2, or above' in 'all 4 components (reading, writing, speaking and listening)'. These are four-skills tests — a different exam from the B1 speaking and listening test. Note that the work-route level is itself recent: Appendix Skilled Worker now reads 'English language skills at level B2 or, where the applicant's most recent permission was as a Skilled Worker and which was granted subject to a requirement at level B1, level B1', the increase from B1 having taken effect for new applicants on 8 January 2026, with Scale-up Worker and High Potential Individual moving at the same time. Health and Care Worker sits inside Appendix Skilled Worker and has no lower carve-out. From 26 March 2027 B2 in speaking and listening separately becomes the settlement level: see pendingChanges.
- Trinity College London
- Integrated Skills in English II (ISE II) — B2, four skills
- IELTS SELT Consortium
- IELTS for UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
- LanguageCert
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1, B2, C1, C2 (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking)
- Pearson
- PTE Academic UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
C1 English test
Higher-level Student visa requirements set by individual institutions. Not relevant to the citizenship or settlement route, though a C1 or C2 pass would more than satisfy a B1 requirement.
- Trinity College London
- Integrated Skills in English III (ISE III) — C1, four skills
- IELTS SELT Consortium
- IELTS for UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
- LanguageCert
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1, B2, C1, C2 (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking)
- LanguageCert General SELT — four skills, B1 to C1
- Pearson
- PTE Academic UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
C2 English test
Higher-level Student visa requirements set by individual institutions. Not relevant to the citizenship or settlement route, though a C1 or C2 pass would more than satisfy a B1 requirement.
- Trinity College London
- Integrated Skills in English IV (ISE IV) — C2, four skills
- IELTS SELT Consortium
- IELTS for UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
- LanguageCert
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1, B2, C1, C2 (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking)
- LanguageCert Academic SELT — four skills, B1 to C2
- Pearson
- PTE Academic UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
A1, A2 and B1 in the list above are speaking and listening exams. The four-skills exams add reading and writing — longer, dearer, and not needed for citizenship or settlement, though a four-skills pass at B1 or above does satisfy the requirement because it includes speaking and listening.
Each provider in detail
Trinity College London
20 approved UK centresThe exam for citizenship and settlement is GESE Grade 5. Trinity describes it as 'a 10 minute speaking and listening test that can be taken at an approved Trinity SELT centre'. It has two parts: a discussion of a topic the candidate prepares in advance — 'You must complete a Topic Form in advance and bring it with you to the exam' — and a conversation with the examiner about two subject areas. Provisional results are emailed by 9am the day after the exam; a link to the digital certificate is emailed within 4 to 7 days of the exam date. Trinity is approved for SELTs taken in the UK only; it does not appear on the Home Office list of tests taken outside the UK.
Approved exams
- Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 2 — A1, speaking and listening
- Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 3 — A2, speaking and listening
- Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 5 — B1, speaking and listening
- Integrated Skills in English I (ISE I) — B1, four skills
- Integrated Skills in English II (ISE II) — B2, four skills
- Integrated Skills in English III (ISE III) — C1, four skills
- Integrated Skills in English IV (ISE IV) — C2, four skills
Fee
£160 for any GESE exam, including the B1 GESE Grade 5. £200 for ISE exams. An optional add-on called Exam Protect costs £35 on top of the exam fee and allows the candidate to book one retake and reschedule once.
Read from https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/SELT (GESE £160.00, ISE £200.00) and https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/SELT/B1-GESE-grade-5 ('All Trinity SELT GESE exams cost £160'), both accessed 13 August 2026. The £35 Exam Protect figure is not on either of those pages and comes from https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/SELT/why-choose-Trinity/Exam-Protect, also accessed 13 August 2026.
What the Home Office list says
Listed by the Home Office as an approved SELT provider for tests taken in the UK. Its approved B1 speaking and listening test is Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grade 5 (pass required); Integrated Skills in English I (ISE I) is also approved at B1 across all four skills. Operates 20 of the 80 UK centres in this edition of the list.
Both links open Trinity College London’s own website. LifeUKPractice takes no bookings and no payments, and earns nothing from these links.
IELTS SELT Consortium
16 approved UK centresIELTS Life Skills is the one to book for citizenship or settlement — 'a single test covering speaking and listening skills', taken face to face with an examiner and one other test taker, lasting around 20 minutes. It is not band-scored: 'you will receive either a Pass or a Fail result depending on how you performed.' IELTS for UKVI is the separate four-skills test, needed for work and study routes rather than for citizenship. Booking is through the consortium's centres, which trade under the British Council and IDP brands; ielts.org is the consortium's own site and its test-centre finder is the safest entry point. We were unable to load takeielts.britishcouncil.org for verification on 13 August 2026 (HTTP 403 to our fetcher), so no fact here rests on it.
Approved exams
- IELTS Life Skills – A1 Speaking & Listening
- IELTS Life Skills – A2 Speaking & Listening
- IELTS Life Skills – B1 Speaking & Listening
- IELTS for UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
Fee
IELTS does not publish a single UK price for Life Skills on ielts.org. The test is delivered by the consortium's partner centres and the fee is shown at the point of booking, so we have not stated a figure. Anyone quoting a fixed IELTS Life Skills price is quoting one centre, not a national rate.
What the Home Office list says
Listed by the Home Office as an approved SELT provider for tests taken in the UK. Its approved B1 speaking and listening test is IELTS Life Skills B1 (pass required); IELTS for UKVI is also approved at B1 across all four skills (4.0 in each of listening, speaking, reading and writing). Operates 16 of the 80 UK centres in this edition of the list, several of them run by the British Council or a partner college.
Both links open IELTS SELT Consortium’s own website. LifeUKPractice takes no bookings and no payments, and earns nothing from these links.
LanguageCert
22 approved UK centresThe exam for citizenship and settlement is LanguageCert ESOL SELT B1 Speaking and Listening: a computer-delivered test with a live examiner, lasting 11 to 13 minutes, in five parts — personal questions, a role play, describing and discussing images, listening comprehension, and an uninterrupted talk on a topic the examiner supplies. The pass mark is 60 out of 100. Provisional results appear within a few minutes and official results in 3 working days. LanguageCert advises arriving at the centre 30 minutes before the start time with valid photo ID. A free re-sit is offered under a 'Take2' promotion whose terms are set by LanguageCert and can change — check the small print at booking rather than relying on it. Note the change GOV.UK records: 'From 6 July 2025 the LANGUAGECERT ESOL SELT 4-skills test was replaced by the LANGUAGECERT Academic SELT and LANGUAGECERT General SELT tests', with existing 4-skills results remaining valid for 2 years.
Approved exams
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT A1 (Speaking & Listening)
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT A2 (Speaking & Listening)
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening)
- LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1, B2, C1, C2 (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking)
- LanguageCert Academic SELT — four skills, B1 to C2
- LanguageCert General SELT — four skills, B1 to C1
Fee
From £160 for the two-skills Speaking and Listening exams at A1, A2 and B1. From £200 for the four-skills Academic and General SELT exams. LanguageCert presents these as 'Price from', so the amount can vary by location.
Read from https://selt.languagecert.org/ and https://www.languagecert.org/en/uk-visa-exams, both accessed 13 August 2026
What the Home Office list says
Listed by the Home Office as an approved SELT provider for tests taken in the UK. Its approved B1 speaking and listening test is LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening), which needs 60/100. LanguageCert also has four-skill tests approved at B1: the four-skill International ESOL SELT B1, LanguageCert Academic SELT and LanguageCert General SELT. Operates 22 of the 80 UK centres in this edition of the list.
Both links open LanguageCert’s own website. LifeUKPractice takes no bookings and no payments, and earns nothing from these links.
Pearson
22 approved UK centresThe exam for citizenship and settlement is PTE Home B1: Pearson's PTE Home B1 product page describes it as a '22-minute test with results typically in 2 days' that 'Meets the B1 English requirement for settlement (ILR) and citizenship'. Pearson's own pages are not consistent on the length — the PTE Home hub page says 'Take your test in 30 minutes' and the SELT overview page gives a 22 to 25 minute range across the A1, A2 and B1 levels — so treat 22 minutes as the figure Pearson publishes for B1 specifically and do not present any of these as a guaranteed appointment length. It is a single computer-based test, taken in a small centre with no more than 15 seats per room, scored by AI, and reported as a simple pass or fail. The score report 'usually within 48 hours' includes the SELT URN needed for the immigration application, and Pearson states results are shared with the Home Office automatically. PTE Academic UKVI is the separate four-skills test for work and study routes.
Approved exams
- PTE Home A1 — speaking and listening
- PTE Home A2 — speaking and listening
- PTE Home B1 — speaking and listening
- PTE Academic UKVI — four skills, approved at B1, B2, C1 and C2
Fee
Pearson does not publish a flat UK price. Its own FAQ directs candidates to 'the price finder tool at the top of this page, or on our test centers and fees page', and fees vary by country and may include local taxes. We have not invented a figure.
What the Home Office list says
Listed by the Home Office as an approved SELT provider for tests taken in the UK. Its approved B1 speaking and listening test is PTE Home B1 (pass required); PTE Academic UKVI is also approved at B1 across all four skills (43 in each). Operates 22 of the 80 UK centres in this edition of the list, branded Pearson Professional Centres.
Both links open Pearson’s own website. LifeUKPractice takes no bookings and no payments, and earns nothing from these links.
Booking with the provider you choose
There is no central Home Office booking site for the SELT and no way to book one through GOV.UK. You choose which approved provider to use — 'It is for you to decide which test to take' — and book directly on that provider's own website. In the UK the choice is Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert or Pearson; outside the UK it is PSI Services (UK) Ltd, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert or Pearson. Before booking, check the exact product name, because each provider also sells non-SELT English tests that the Home Office will not accept: the approved names are 'IELTS for UKVI' or 'IELTS Life Skills'; 'LANGUAGECERT International ESOL SELT', 'LANGUAGECERT Academic SELT' or 'LANGUAGECERT General SELT'; 'PTE Academic UKVI' or 'PTE Home'; 'Skills for English UKVI'; and, from Trinity, 'Secure English Language Tests for UKVI' — Integrated Skills in English (ISE) or Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE). The booking must be made in the name on the identity document you will bring: 'The details used to book your test must be the same as on your passport or other identity document. If your surname has changed, you will still need to book the test in the name on your passport or identity document.' GOV.UK also warns about resellers: if booking through a third party, confirm 'they are officially recognised by the test provider' and that 'their fees are the same as, or lower than, the price on the test provider's website', noting that 'some third party providers may claim to be affiliated with official Home Office partners when they are not'. The Home Office publishes the full list of approved centres in and outside the UK as ODS spreadsheets on the SELT guidance page, but tells candidates to check the provider's website for availability and not to contact centres directly.
Retakes are a commercial term, not a Home Office rule
There is no Home Office limit on how many times you may sit a SELT, but there is no free national retake either: you rebook and pay the provider again unless their own terms say otherwise. On four-skills tests only, GOV.UK allows a partial resit in some cases: 'In certain circumstances, if you failed one component of the test, you may be allowed to sit that component again. You will need to check the test provider's terms and conditions before booking a test.' That does not arise on the two-skills B1 test used for citizenship and settlement, where speaking and listening are assessed together. Provider retake offers exist and change: Trinity sells 'Exam Protect' for £35 on top of the exam fee, which allows one retake and one reschedule; LanguageCert advertises a free re-sit under a promotion. Both are commercial terms set by the provider, not Home Office rules, so check them at the point of booking. Where two or more components are examined and awarded together, GOV.UK requires the necessary scores in all relevant components 'with the same test centre provider as part of the combined test assessment'.
If you are taking the test outside the UK
The approved list is different overseas. PSI Services (UK) Ltd — Skills for English is approved only for tests taken outside the UK, alongside IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson. A test taken abroad can still be used for an application made in the UK.
PSI Services (UK) Ltd — Skills for English
Approved for tests taken outside the UK only — GOV.UK lists PSI Services (UK) Ltd under 'If you are outside of the UK' and not under the UK providers. Skills for English says it is available 'in one of our Home Office-approved test centres in over 130 countries outside of the UK' and that a test taken outside the UK can still be used for an application made in the UK. It is entirely computer-based with no examiner present. Maximum test time allowed for the B1 speaking and listening test, for both Indefinite Leave to Remain and British Citizenship (Naturalisation), is 50 minutes. Results are 'available in as little as 3 to 5 days'. Worth flagging for readers: the same company, PSI, also runs the Life in the UK Test in the UK — the two services are unrelated and are booked separately.
No fee is published on the Skills for English SELT page; prices are shown in the booking system and vary by country. Not stated here rather than guessed.
Choosing a provider
Which providers are approved, and which test should I book?
In the UK you can take a SELT with Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert or Pearson. Outside the UK it is PSI Services (UK) Ltd, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert or Pearson. The choice is yours — GOV.UK says 'It is for you to decide which test to take.' What matters is booking the right product, because each provider also sells English tests the Home Office will not accept. For B1 speaking and listening the approved options are Trinity's GESE Grade 5, IELTS Life Skills B1, LanguageCert International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening), PTE Home B1, and, outside the UK, Skills for English UKVI B1 (2 component).
How much does the B1 English test cost?
It depends on the provider, and only two publish a flat UK price. Trinity College London charges £160 for any GESE exam, including the B1 GESE Grade 5. LanguageCert lists its A1, A2 and B1 Speaking and Listening exams from £160. Pearson and the IELTS SELT Consortium do not publish a single UK figure — Pearson points candidates to its price finder and says fees vary by country, and IELTS Life Skills is priced by the centre you book with. Treat any site quoting one national IELTS or PTE price with suspicion, and check the provider's own booking page. All of these are separate from the £50 Life in the UK Test fee.
How long does the test take and what happens in it?
All the B1 options test the same two skills, but the format differs. Trinity's GESE Grade 5 is a 10-minute face-to-face exam in two parts: a discussion of a topic you prepare in advance and bring on a Topic Form, then a conversation with the examiner on two subject areas. LanguageCert's B1 Speaking and Listening test runs 11 to 13 minutes over five parts, computer-delivered with a live examiner, and needs 60 out of 100 to pass. PTE Home B1 is a 22-minute computer-based test, marked automatically, reported as a pass or a fail. IELTS Life Skills B1 lasts around 20 minutes and is taken with an examiner and one other test taker. Skills for English, available outside the UK only, allows up to 50 minutes for the B1 speaking and listening test.
What happens if I fail?
You can book and pay for another attempt. The Home Office sets no limit on the number of attempts and no waiting period, but it does not offer a free retake either — any free or discounted resit comes from the provider. Trinity sells an add-on called Exam Protect for £35 on top of the exam fee, which includes one retake and one reschedule; LanguageCert has advertised a free resit under a promotion. Both are commercial terms that can change, so read them before you book. On four-skills tests GOV.UK notes that 'if you failed one component of the test, you may be allowed to sit that component again', subject to the provider's terms — that does not apply to the B1 speaking and listening test, where the two skills are assessed together.
Sources
Every fee, format and exam name above was read from GOV.UK or from the provider’s own website on the dates below, not from a comparison site. Last reviewed 13 August 2026. Provider prices and promotions change without notice — confirm the fee on the provider’s booking page before you pay.
- Prove your English language abilities with a secure English language test (SELT) — GOV.UK guidance, last updated 12 August 2026 — accessed 13 August 2026.
- List of approved secure English language tests taken in the UK (ODS) — Home Office — accessed 13 August 2026.
- List of approved secure English language tests taken outside the UK (ODS) — Home Office — accessed 13 August 2026.
- B1 English test (GESE Grade 5) — Trinity College London — accessed 13 August 2026.
- Exam Protect — Trinity College London — accessed 13 August 2026. Source for the £35 Exam Protect add-on, available on GESE Grade 2, 3 and 5, giving one retake (4 months to resit if you do not pass) and one reschedule if requested at least 24 hours before the test day. A commercial term set by Trinity, not a Home Office rule.
- LANGUAGECERT ESOL SELT B1 Speaking and Listening — UKVI English test — accessed 13 August 2026.
- UK visa English tests — LanguageCert — accessed 13 August 2026.
- PTE Home B1 UK test — Pearson PTE — accessed 13 August 2026.
- IELTS Life Skills test format: A1, A2 and B1 — ielts.org — accessed 13 August 2026.
- Skills for English: SELT — PSI Services (UK) Ltd, approved for UKVI applications outside the UK — accessed 13 August 2026.
Next steps
Picked a provider? Check it has a centre you can reach, then remember the other half of the requirement — the Life in the UK Test is a separate exam with a separate booking system, and it is the half you can actually revise for.
LifeUKPractice is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the UK Home Office, gov.uk, or any government body. It is not affiliated with Trinity College London, IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson or any other test provider, takes no bookings, and receives no commission from the outbound links on this page.