English requirement
How long an English test result stays valid
Enter the award date on your result and the day you expect to apply. The checker applies the two-year rule and the settlement exception.
Is my English test result still valid?
Valid for this application?
Yes
| Two-year limit | 20 January 2027 |
| Used for ILR | no |
| Level needed | B1, speaking and listening |
Guide AN: a B1 speaking and listening test used for settlement can be relied on again for naturalisation.
A Secure English Language Test result is valid for 2 years from the date it is awarded, according to the Home Office SELT guidance updated on 12 October 2026, and Guide AN says that once those 2 years have passed the result cannot support a naturalisation application. The test must therefore have been awarded within the 2 years before the date the Home Office receives your application, which for an online application is the day you submit it. There is one important exception. If you were granted indefinite leave to remain on the basis of a B1 or higher speaking and listening qualification, you meet the English requirement for citizenship without another test, even if the result has since run out and even if that test has since been dropped from the approved list. A result used only for an earlier visa does not get this treatment for citizenship. Degrees and listed passports are not caught by the 2-year limit at all.
The B1 test of each provider
Test to book
IELTS Life Skills B1 (Speaking and Listening)
| Minimum result | Pass |
| On the approved list since | 6 April 2015 |
| Result valid | 2 years |
Questions, dates and fees by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
The rule in one sentence, then three dates
The result must have been awarded no more than 2 years before the Home Office receives your application. It is a simple test, but people get it wrong because they look at the wrong two dates. Here are the three that matter:
| Date | Where to find it | Why it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Award date | on your SELT result, next to the reference number | starts the 2-year clock |
| Application date | the day the Home Office receives the form (same day online) | the clock must not have run out by then |
| Settlement decision | your ILR or settlement letter, if a B1 result was used for it | removes the clock for citizenship |
Example: Joseph's PTE Home B1 was awarded on 20 January 2025. Its 2-year validity ends in January 2027. If he applies for citizenship online on 1 December 2026, the result is fine. If his residence dates force him to wait until March 2027, it has expired and he must book a new test, unless that same result was the one accepted for his indefinite leave to remain. The checker above uses his dates by default.
The settlement exception, read closely
Guide AN says that if you successfully applied for indefinite leave to remain on the basis of a B1 level qualification, you meet the requirement for naturalisation and do not need another test. It extends this to people who met the ILR requirement because they had already met B1 for an earlier entry clearance or leave to remain. The gov.uk page on proving your English adds two useful details: it does not matter if the test is no longer on the current list, and the level can be anything from B1 to C2.
The exception is generous but narrow. It works when the result was accepted for settlement. These situations are outside it:
- You settled on a work route that exempted you from English, so no test was ever assessed for your ILR.
- You hold EU settled status: the EU Settlement Scheme never assessed English.
- You took a test after getting ILR, specifically for citizenship: the ordinary 2-year limit applies to it.
When a test changes name or leaves the list
Tests do change. From 6 July 2025 LanguageCert replaced its four-skill ESOL SELT with the Academic SELT and the General SELT, and the Home Office confirmed that results already held stay valid for their 2 years. A test that disappears from the list keeps its value for the rest of its own validity; after that, only the settlement exception keeps an old result alive, and only for citizenship.
The four tests approved today for B1 speaking and listening are shown in the tool below with the date each joined the list.
Planning the order of things
Because of the limit, the best moment to sit a new test is a few months before your citizenship date, not years ahead. Work out that date first with the citizenship date calculator, which applies the residence and absence rules. Then book the English test with a margin: the Home Office aims for a test within 28 days of booking. If you are still on the way to settlement, check whether the B1 you take now could serve both steps, as explained on the settlement page. That one result, accepted for ILR, then carries over to citizenship whatever its age.