14 min read

English Test for a New Zealand Visa: Scores by Visa Type

Nine Immigration New Zealand visa pages publish their own pass mark for the same seven tests. IELTS runs from 4 to 6.5, and at-home tests are never accepted.

There is no single New Zealand English score. Immigration New Zealand accepts the same seven tests across every visa category, then publishes a different pass mark on nine separate visa pages, and the spread is wide: an overall IELTS 6.5 for a skilled residence principal applicant, an overall IELTS 4 for an Accredited Employer Work Visa at ANZSCO or NOL skill level 3 to 5. Read the page that names your own visa, because the general English page is not the last word on your number.

Before you pay for anything, read the sentence that sits on every page publishing one of those score tables. You must sit the test in person at a test centre, and tests taken remotely outside of a test centre, such as at home tests, are not acceptable. An online booking buys a certificate the application will not take.

If you want daily speaking practice while the paperwork moves, SpeakShark is free with three AI conversation sessions a day and no card, each session capped at five minutes and four turns, with basic speaking feedback.

In this guide: book it in person · the seven tests · every score table · who has to take it · the 1 June 2026 work visa change · exemptions · paying for lessons · how long a result lasts · what to practise · what we could not verify · how we researched this guide · FAQ

Key takeaways

  • The same seven tests appear on nine Immigration New Zealand visa pages, which publish fourteen score tables between them, and the pass mark changes from page to page. IELTS runs from 4 for an Accredited Employer Work Visa at skill level 3 to 5, for an Entrepreneur Resident Visa or an Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa, and for a Dependent Child Resident Visa where the parent holds one of those two business visas, up to 6.5 for a skilled residence principal applicant.
  • Tests must be sat in person at a test centre, and tests taken remotely outside a test centre, such as at home tests, are not acceptable. All nine of those pages carry that rule.
  • A result must be no more than 2 years old at the time you apply, and from 24 August 2026 it lasts 5 years for Skilled Migrant Category applicants who hold a recognised occupational registration.
  • From 13 July 2026 every part of the OET must be taken in person at a supervised test centre, and OET@Home has never been accepted.
  • Only B2 First and B2 First for Schools appear on the accepted test lists. C1 Advanced appears nowhere. C2 Proficiency appears under a different heading, as Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English at a C pass in the qualifications table, which is English-speaking background evidence and does not apply to the Accredited Employer Work Visa, the skilled residence visas or any working holiday visa.

Book it in person or the money is gone

This is the trap that costs the most money for the least reason, so it goes first.

Nine Immigration New Zealand visa pages publish a score table, and those nine pages are the whole of the score data in this guide: the skilled residence page, the Accredited Employer Work Visa page, the residence from work page, the Parent Resident Visa page, the business investor page, the working holiday page, the entrepreneurs and employees relocating page, the Active Investor Plus Visa page and the Dependent Child Resident Visa page. Between them they publish fourteen numbered score tables, and every one of the nine carries the in-person rule.

Eight of the nine word it identically: you will need to sit the test in person at a test centre, and your result must be no more than 2 years old at the time you apply. Tests taken remotely outside of a test centre, such as 'at home' tests are not acceptable.

The ninth, the Dependent Child Resident Visa page, carries the same rule in the third person, because the person sitting the test there is the child: they will need to sit the test in person at a test centre, and their result must be no more than 2 years old at the time you apply.

The ESOL lessons page repeats that first person wording word for word, but it is not one of the nine, because what it publishes is tuition charge bands rather than a visa score table. The rule reaches one page further than the score tables do, never one page less.

Three pages carry no version of it at all, and they are the English language requirements index, the Meeting English language requirements page and the English language tests tool page. None of those three publishes a visa score table, so read the rule as travelling with the score table rather than with the section.

It is not only a guidance page position. The binding instruction SR2.10.1 in the Operational Manual bakes the same condition into the rule for skilled residence applications.

In practice that rules out the remote products people book by accident:

The OET rule has a date on both sides of it. Immigration New Zealand's news item on English language testing states it two ways. It gives the switchover as midnight 12 July 2026 New Zealand Standard Time, when all parts of the OET must be taken in person at a supervised test centre, and it gives the usable boundary as 13 July 2026: if you completed a computer based OET with a remotely administered speaking component before 13 July 2026, you can still use those results, and if you take the test on or after 13 July 2026, you must go to a test centre. A sitting on 12 July itself is the one date those two phrasings do not settle between them, so ask before you book that day. Every other mention of this change in this guide uses the 13 July boundary.

Read that carefully in both directions. An older remote-speaking OET is not automatically dead, and a new one booked the same way is not usable. If you are sitting OET, the OET speaking criteria and OET speaking for nurses explain what the graders are actually marking.

The seven tests New Zealand accepts

Every Immigration New Zealand page that publishes a visa score table carries the same list, and the shape of that list is worth reading closely:

  1. General or Academic module, IELTS. Both modules appear, unlike Canada, where Express Entry names General Training specifically.
  2. One Skill Retake (OSR), IELTS. Listed on the guidance pages. See the caveat in what we could not verify, and our guide to IELTS retake cost and One Skill Retake.
  3. TOEFL iBT. Only the skilled residence page names it Academic TOEFL iBT. Every other current Immigration New Zealand English page names it TOEFL iBT. Quote the page that matches your visa. What the TOEFL speaking section involves covers the format.
  4. PTE Academic. See PTE Academic speaking.
  5. B2 First, Cambridge English. See Cambridge B2 First speaking.
  6. B2 First for Schools, Cambridge English.
  7. OET, which the page itself describes as designed for health care professionals.

The score tables print six rows rather than seven, because the two IELTS entries share a single IELTS row. OET is always the last row of the table, on every one of the nine pages, so scroll to the bottom of the table before concluding your test is missing from it.

Cambridge C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency are not on that accepted test list. Several third party immigration and coaching sites say they are accepted as tests. Neither appears on any of the fourteen score tables those nine pages publish, so neither will earn you a score row.

C2 Proficiency does appear on a current page, under a different heading, and that matters. The Meeting English language requirements page carries Table 1, Minimum results needed for English language qualifications, and one row of it reads Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English, C pass. Cambridge's own name change table maps Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) to C2 Proficiency, so that row is the exam sold today as C2 Proficiency.

Carry the condition in that table's heading with it, because the condition is the whole story. The table sits under Using your background to meet our English language requirements, then Education and qualifications, so a CPE certificate is evidence of an English-speaking background rather than an accepted test. The same page states that this route does not apply to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), the skilled residence visas, or any working holiday visas. That page does name nine visas where the route works, and they are a different nine from the nine score table pages above: the Active Investor Plus Visa, the Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa, the Entrepreneur Resident Visa, the Religious Worker Resident Visa, the Long Term Skill Shortage List Resident Visa, the two Talent resident visas, the Dependent Child Resident Visa and the Parent Resident Visa. On those nine visas it is evidence Immigration New Zealand names in writing, though the same page adds that a dependent child cannot use a background if their parent holds a skilled residence visa. Note that the two Business Investor visas are not on that list; their own page runs a separate citizenship, work and study route instead. On an AEWV, a skilled residence visa or a working holiday visa it is worth nothing and you still need a test from the list above.

C1 Advanced has no row anywhere. It is on neither the accepted test lists nor the qualifications table, so booking a harder and more expensive exam on somebody else's summary is a poor trade.

If the level labels are what confuse you rather than the test names, CEFR levels explained for speaking and what a B1 English test is set the scale out plainly.

Every visa group has its own score table

This is the section that saves the booking. Each row below carries its own scope condition, because the condition is what makes the number correct. A merged New Zealand score table would be off by up to 2.5 IELTS bands depending on which visa you are actually applying for.

Visa group Who the requirement falls on IELTS TOEFL iBT PTE Academic B2 First and B2 First for Schools OET Scope condition that must travel with this row
Skilled residence visas, principal applicant Principal applicant Overall score of 6.5 or more Overall score of 79 or more Overall score of 58 or more Overall score of 176 or more Grade C+ or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 1 on the skilled residence page. Applies only to the Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa, Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa, Straight to Residence Visa, Transport Work to Residence Visa and Work to Residence Visa. In person at a test centre. Result no more than 2 years old at the time you apply. The lessons option is not available to this person. An English speaking background cannot be used.
Skilled residence visas, family Partner or dependent child aged 16 or older Overall score of 5 or more Overall score of 35 or more Overall score of 36 or more Overall score of 154 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Same Table 1, right hand column. Same five visas, same in person and 2 year conditions. This person may instead pre-purchase English lessons in New Zealand. No requirement for children younger than 16.
Accredited Employer Work Visa Principal applicant only Overall score of 4 or more Overall score of 31 or more Overall score of 29 or more Overall score of 142 or more Grade D or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table caption reads at ANZSCO or NOL skill level 3 to 5. No requirement at ANZSCO or NOL skill level 1 or 2. Applies to skill level 3 only from 1 June 2026. No requirement for the partner or dependent children. Exempt if English was already evidenced on a previous AEWV application, or if the current AEWV expires on or before 1 December 2026 and the new application is at skill level 3. Not required for a Global Workforce Seasonal Visa or Peak Seasonal Visa, and not for Job Change applications. In person only, result under 2 years old. An English speaking background cannot be used.
Religious Worker Resident Visa Principal applicant, and partner or dependent child aged 16 or older Overall score of 5 or more Overall score of 35 or more Overall score of 36 or more Overall score of 154 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 1 on the residence from work page, captioned as required for the Religious Worker Resident Visa. Both columns carry identical figures. In person only, result under 2 years old. An English speaking background is allowed for this category. Family may pre-purchase lessons instead.
Long Term Skill Shortage List, Religious Worker, Talent (Accredited Employer) and Talent (Arts, Culture, Sports) Resident Visas Partner or dependent child aged 16 or older only Not required for the principal applicant, overall score of 5 or more for the partner or dependent child Not required, 35 or more Not required, 36 or more Not required, 154 or more Not required, Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 2 on the residence from work page, captioned as required for other residence from work visas. Its heading block names four visas rather than three, because it adds the Religious Worker Resident Visa to the three above. The partner or dependent child figures are the same 5 in Table 1 and Table 2, so nothing moves for a Religious Worker family. The principal applicant column literally prints Not required for every test, which for a Religious Worker principal applicant is contradicted by Table 1 on the same page, so that person should work from Table 1. In person only, result under 2 years old. An English speaking background is allowed. Family may pre-purchase lessons instead.
Parent Resident Visa Principal applicant and partner, both Overall score of 5 or more, or 4 or more in at least 2 of the 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Overall score of 35 or more, or at least 2 of these scores: listening 2 or more, reading 2 or more, writing 11 or more, speaking 11 or more Overall score of 36 or more, or 29 or more in at least 2 of the 4 skills Overall score of 154 or more, or 142 or more in at least 2 of the 4 skills Grade D or higher in at least 2 of the 4 skills, or Grade C or higher in all 4 skills Table 1 on the Parent Resident Visa page. Principal applicant and partner columns are identical. There is no dependent child column, because the page states you cannot apply for this visa if you have dependent children. This is the only category where the principal applicant may buy lessons instead of passing, and the sliding ESOL charge does not apply to it: the lessons page states that if you are applying for a Parent Resident Visa you can pay for you and your partner to learn English in New Zealand, and you only pay the lowest fee even if you do not speak or understand English at all. An English speaking background is allowed. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Business Investor Work Visa Principal applicant only Overall score of 5 or more Overall score of 35 or more Overall score of 36 or more Overall score of 154 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills Table 1 on the business investor page, captioned as required for the Business Investor Work Visa. The partner column prints Not required for every test, because the family requirement is deferred until the Business Investor Resident Visa stage. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Business Investor Resident Visa Partner or dependent child aged 16 or older only Not required for the principal applicant, overall score of 5 or more for the partner or dependent child Not required, 35 or more Not required, 36 or more Not required, 154 or more Not required, Grade C or higher in all 4 skills Table 2 on the business investor page. The principal applicant is exempt at this stage because they already evidenced English for the Business Investor Work Visa. Family may pre-purchase lessons instead. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Entrepreneur Resident Visa and Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa Principal applicant, and partner or dependent child aged 16 or older Overall score of 4 or more Overall score of 31 or more Overall score of 29 or more Overall score of 142 or more Grade D or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 1 on the entrepreneurs and employees relocating page, which covers both visas in one table. The principal applicant column and the partner or dependent child column carry identical figures. An English speaking background is allowed for this category. The principal applicant cannot use the lessons option; the partner and dependent children aged 16 or older can. No requirement for children younger than 16. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Active Investor Plus Visa Principal applicant only, and only on applications made before 1 April 2025 Overall score of 5 or more Overall score of 35 or more Overall score of 36 or more Overall score of 154 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 1 on the Active Investor Plus Visa page. The page title block already carries the condition: it explains how to meet the requirement for applications made before 1 April 2025, and its note states the requirement to speak and understand English was removed from this visa on 1 April 2025, so the page applies only to people who applied before that date and did not transition to the new settings. The partner or dependent child column prints Not required for every test. An English speaking background is allowed. In person only, result under 2 years old.
China Working Holiday Visa Principal applicant only Overall score of 5.5 or more Overall score of 46 or more Overall score of 42 or more Overall score of 162 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 1 on the working holiday page. A test is compulsory for this scheme, in Immigration New Zealand's words you must take an English language test. An English speaking background cannot be used for any working holiday visa. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam Working Holiday Visas Principal applicant only Overall score of 4.5 or more Overall score of 32 or more Overall score of 30 or more Overall score of 147 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 3 on the working holiday page, covering four schemes in one table. Philippines and Turkey allow an English medium tertiary qualification instead of a test. Thailand allows evidence of English medium schooling instead, and if that cannot be provided the page says Immigration New Zealand can test your English by talking to you about yourself, your family and your background. Vietnam requires a test. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Peru Working Holiday Visa Principal applicant, optional 5.0 or more in Speaking and 1 other skill area: listening, reading or writing 14 or more in speaking, and 1 of these scores: listening 4 or more, reading 4 or more, writing 14 or more 36 or more in speaking and 1 other skill area 154 or more in speaking and 1 other skill area Grade C or higher in speaking and 1 other skill area Table 2 on the working holiday page. There is no English requirement for this visa. Passing is optional and reduces the funds you must bring: normally you would need NZD $7,000 for your stay, reduced to NZD $4,200 with a successful English test. The working holiday English page prints those two figures with a bare dollar sign; the Peru Working Holiday Visa page writes them as NZD, which is the currency meant. Skill level scores only, no overall score. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Dependent Child Resident Visa, child of a skilled residence visa holder Dependent child aged 16 or older only Overall score of 5 or more Overall score of 35 or more Overall score of 36 or more Overall score of 154 or more Grade C or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 1 on the Dependent Child Resident Visa page, captioned as required for children of skilled residence visa applicants. Applies only where the child was eligible to be included in their parent's previous application for a Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa, Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa, Straight to Residence Visa, Transport Work to Residence Visa or Work to Residence Visa. The When you apply block higher up the same page adds General Skills category to that list, a name that appears on no other English page, so see what we could not verify below. A child in this group cannot use an English speaking background. No requirement under 16. In person only, result under 2 years old.
Dependent Child Resident Visa, child of a business visa holder Dependent child aged 16 or older only Overall score of 4 or more Overall score of 31 or more Overall score of 29 or more Overall score of 142 or more Grade D or higher in all 4 skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking Table 2 on the Dependent Child Resident Visa page, captioned as required for children of business visa applicants. Applies only where the child was eligible to be included in their parent's previous application for an Entrepreneur Resident Visa or an Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa. An English speaking background is allowed for this group. Lessons may be bought instead if a child aged 16 or older misses the score. No requirement under 16. In person only, result under 2 years old.

The gap between the top and bottom row of that table is 2.5 IELTS bands. That is roughly a year of work for most people, plus repeat test fees, which is why a flattened New Zealand score chart is worse than no chart at all.

Who has to take the test changes by visa

The second most expensive mistake is assuming the requirement falls on the same people every time. It does not, and on two categories it inverts completely.

Skilled residence. Immigration New Zealand's wording is that you must show that you, your partner and any dependent children can speak and understand English, for the Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa, Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa, Straight to Residence Visa, Transport Work to Residence Visa and Work to Residence Visa. There are no English language requirements for children younger than 16.

Accredited Employer Work Visa. The opposite. If you are eligible to support them, there are no English language requirements for your partner and dependent children.

Long Term Skill Shortage List and the two Talent resident visas. The inversion. The principal applicant does not need to show English, but the partner and dependent children do. The score table prints Not required across the entire principal applicant column. Read the two blocks on that page separately, because they do not name the same visas: the When you apply block names these three, while the heading block above Table 2 adds the Religious Worker Resident Visa to them, and a Religious Worker principal applicant does have to show English under Table 1.

Business investor visas. The requirement moves rather than applying to everyone at once. The principal applicant evidences English at the work visa stage; the partner and children evidence it at the resident visa stage.

Entrepreneur Resident Visa and Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa. Everybody at once, at the same mark. Immigration New Zealand's wording is that you must show that you, your partner and any dependent children can speak and understand English, and its table prints identical figures in the principal applicant column and the partner or dependent child column.

Active Investor Plus Visa. Principal applicant only, and only on applications made before 1 April 2025. The page states there are no English language requirements for the partner or children, and its note records that the requirement to speak and understand English was removed from this visa on 1 April 2025.

Parent Resident Visa. Both the principal applicant and the partner must meet it, and there is no dependent child column at all, because the page states you cannot apply for this visa if you have dependent children.

If you are supporting a family member through a lower threshold, testing your English speaking level free is a sane first step before anybody books anything.

The work visa rules changed on 1 June 2026

The Accredited Employer Work Visa is the category where a 2025 blog post will give you the wrong answer, so treat old summaries with suspicion.

The requirement only bites at skill level 3 to 5. Immigration New Zealand states that there are no English language requirements for an AEWV for a job that is either ANZSCO skill level 1 or 2, or skill level 1 or 2 on the list of NOL occupations that can be used for an AEWV.

Skill level 3 was only brought in on 1 June 2026. The announcement of 25 May 2026 says that from 1 June 2026 AEWV minimum English language requirements will apply to ANZSCO and NOL skill level 3 occupations. It also states that migrants applying at skill level 3 from 1 June onwards need to meet the new requirements even if their employer received a job check token before 1 June 2026.

Three carve-outs sit alongside it, and each one is a test fee somebody does not have to pay:

  • Already evidenced. You do not need to show English again if you have already done this for a previous AEWV application.
  • Expiring visa at skill level 3. No requirement if you have an AEWV that expires on or before 1 December 2026 and you are applying for another AEWV at skill level 3.
  • Seasonal and job change. Global Workforce Seasonal Visa and Peak Seasonal Visa applications are not required to meet the minimum standard of English, and the requirement does not apply to Job Change applications. The Operational Manual instruction WA4.12.1, effective 1 June 2026, repeats the seasonal carve-out for the avoidance of doubt.

That instruction page lists seven superseded versions of itself. Any quote taken from an older WA4.12 page is out of date, which is a good reason to read the source rather than a summary of it, including ours.

Exemptions that are narrower than they look

Immigration New Zealand publishes routes that avoid a test. Every one of them carries a condition in the heading rather than in the list, which is exactly the part that gets lost when the list is republished.

Citizenship is not enough on its own. The page lists Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The sentence above the list reads: you must have spent at least 5 years working or studying in one of these countries, or in Australia or New Zealand. A United States citizen who has worked outside those six countries their whole career is not exempt. Note also that Australia and New Zealand count toward the five years but are not on the citizenship list.

The qualification lists use a different country set. A qualification comparable with a New Zealand level 7 bachelor's degree works if it was gained in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States, and you lived in one of those countries while studying for it for at least 2 years. The parallel postgraduate block uses the same six countries but says at least 1 year. Six countries, not four. The two lists are not interchangeable.

An English speaking background is blocked on the highest routes. Immigration New Zealand's alert is direct, and this is its wording: If you are applying for an AEVW or a skilled residence visa, you cannot use an English-speaking background as evidence of your English language ability. We require a higher level of English for these visas. The line under it adds that you cannot use it for working holiday visas either, as the requirements for these visas are different. The typo AEVW is in the source and we have not corrected it.

Where the background route does work, the page names the visas in its own heading block. Meeting English language requirements applies to the Active Investor Plus Visa, the Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa, the Entrepreneur Resident Visa, the Religious Worker Resident Visa, the Long Term Skill Shortage List Resident Visa, both Talent resident visas, the Dependent Child Resident Visa and the Parent Resident Visa, with its own note that the Active Investor Plus entry only applies to applications submitted before 1 April 2025 which have not been transitioned to the new settings. It then states plainly that it does not apply to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), the skilled residence visas, or any working holiday visas, and it notes that a dependent child cannot use an English-speaking background if their parent holds a skilled residence visa. That heading block is where the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English row lives, so the same limits apply to it.

An officer can ask for a test anyway. Instruction SR2.10.1 states that in any case, an immigration officer may require a principal applicant to provide an English language test result. The Skilled Migrant Category visa page adds that you and your family may have to sit tests and send the results. Treat the exemption as a strong position rather than a closed door, and keep your speaking warm either way. Practising English speaking alone is the cheapest insurance against that request arriving late.

Paying for lessons instead of passing

New Zealand has a route the UK does not: if the family member misses the score, you can pre-purchase English tuition in New Zealand instead. Compare that with the UK, where the settlement B1 speaking test and the A1 spouse visa test have to be passed outright, and the A2 extension test sits on top.

Who can use it depends on the category, and the categories do not all point the same way:

  • Skilled residence. Principal applicants for these visas cannot use the English lesson option as a way to meet the requirements. Their partner and dependent children aged 16 or older can.
  • Business, entrepreneur and residence from work categories. The same shape. The entrepreneurs and employees relocating page states that principal applicants for these visas cannot use the English lesson option, while the partner and dependent children aged 16 or older can.
  • Parent Resident Visa. The opposite. If you and your partner do not get the minimum test score required, you can buy English language lessons for yourselves instead.

For a partner or a dependent child, the charge is set by the test result, and it rises as the score falls. On the IELTS table, an overall score of 4.5 or more but less than 5.0 is charged NZD $1,735 in total, and a score of less than 3.5 is charged NZD $6,795. Separate tables cover TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge and OET, and the bands are not interchangeable between tests.

The Parent Resident Visa is carved out of that sliding scale, under its own heading on the same page. Immigration New Zealand's wording under Applying for a Parent Resident Visa is: if you are applying for a Parent Resident Visa you can pay for you and your partner to learn English in New Zealand. You only pay the lowest fee even if you do not speak or understand English at all. So the fee bands above are not aimed at a parent applicant, and buying an IELTS sitting to escape the NZD $6,795 band buys protection against a charge that group was never exposed to.

There is a sting attached, and it is scoped to family members. Immigration New Zealand's note reads: if your partner or children are not able to speak English at all or do not take the test, you must pay the maximum charge for their English language tuition. For a partner or a dependent child aged 16 or older, not sitting the test is therefore the most expensive option on the page. For a Parent Resident Visa applicant or their partner it is not, because that route pays the lowest fee whatever the result.

So the arithmetic is worth doing before a partner or dependent child skips a booking. Moving a partner from below 3.5 to above 4.5 on the IELTS scale is the difference between NZD $6,795 and NZD $1,735. The bands are set by the overall score, so listening, reading and writing all count toward it and speaking practice moves one quarter of it. Start a free session with three sessions a day, five minutes each and four turns, and read why English speaking does not improve if study alone has not moved it.

How long a result lasts

The default is short and it is measured from an unusual point.

Your result must be no more than 2 years old at the time you apply. That is your application date, not your test date, so a certificate that is fine when you start collecting documents can expire while you are still collecting them.

One documented exception exists so far, and it takes two different pages to state it in full.

The news centre item is the narrow one. From 24 August 2026, English language test results will be valid for 5 years for applicants who hold a recognised occupational registration. That item says nothing at all about anybody else on the application, so do not read a partner into it.

The partner line lives on a separate guidance page, the 2026 changes to the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa page: if you are including your partner in your SMC Resident Visa application, their English language test results will also be valid for 5 years if they have an eligible occupational registration. Read the condition on the end of that sentence. The five years follows the partner's own registration, not yours, so a partner with no eligible registration is still on the two year clock even when the principal applicant is not.

Both sources for that extension are framed entirely around the Skilled Migrant Category. We have not found it repeated on any Straight to Residence, Work to Residence, Care Workforce or Accredited Employer Work Visa page, so do not carry it across. A registered nurse in the SMC queue may not need the retest they were planning. Somebody on a different route probably does.

What to actually practise

Whichever test the table above points you at, the underlying ability is the same, and the format decides how you rehearse rather than what you build.

  1. Speak daily and unscripted. All seven tests measure retrieval under pressure. Free methods to raise fluency and a 30 day plan to improve speaking cover the habit.
  2. Match the rehearsal to the delivery. IELTS and OET put a person in front of you, so rehearse with something that reacts. PTE Academic records you with nobody responding. Computer delivered IELTS speaking explains where that line now sits for IELTS.
  3. Work the specific task types for the test you booked, using how to practise IELTS speaking alone or, for health workers, English speaking practice for nurses.
  4. Fix clarity before accent. Six pronunciation fixes in fourteen days and reducing mother tongue influence target what actually blocks understanding.
  5. Know your starting point. Test your English speaking level free, then compare with the Canadian route, the UK route and CELPIP versus IELTS if you are weighing more than one country.
  6. Start before the visa timeline forces you to. Open a free session and make it daily, within the free limits of three sessions a day, five minutes and four turns each.

What we could not verify

There is no interview pathway for residence or work visas. We looked for one and found none on any current guidance page or current instruction. The only interview-like provision anywhere is on the Thailand Working Holiday Visa, where the page says Immigration New Zealand can test your English by talking to you about yourself, your family and your background. Do not plan around an interview.

IELTS One Skill Retake appears on every guidance page and in none of the Operational Manual score tables. We searched the full instruction index and found no occurrence of One Skill Retake or OSR. We could not resolve which document governs if they disagree, nor find any official statement on how the two year window is measured when only one skill is retaken.

We are not publishing one ESOL fee band. The guidance page gives the IELTS 3.5 to under 4.0 band as NZD $5,100 in total while instruction SR2.10.30 gives NZ$5,110 for the same band. One of them is wrong and we could not determine which, so we have published only the top and bottom bands and left that one out.

We could not date the start of the general in-person testing rule. Current instructions SR2.10 and WA4.12 both contain it, and the archived SR5.15 from 2023 does not. Explicit grandfathering exists only for OET. If you hold an online IELTS or TOEFL result from 2025, there is no published answer and you should ask rather than assume.

We are not naming General Skills category as a current skilled residence category. It appears in the When you apply block on the Dependent Child Resident Visa page, but not in that same page's Table 1 heading list, not in the five visa list on the skilled residence English page, and not in current SR2.10. We could not confirm whether it is live, forward looking or legacy wording.

We are not publishing test fees. No official Immigration New Zealand source gives them, and exam body pricing varies by country.

We have not reproduced the English language tests tool's visa list. The list is readable without running the tool, because the served page carries it as escaped JSON inside a component prop: 24 visas plus an Other visa option. We are still not republishing it, for a reason that has nothing to do with reading it. It is a filter input rather than an answer, since a score only appears once you pick both a visa and an applicant type, and its labels do not line up with the score table captions. It offers Entrepreneur Work Visa and Investor 2 Resident Visa (closed), neither of which has a score table among the nine pages, and it offers nothing called Business Investor Work Visa or Business Investor Resident Visa even though one page publishes tables under exactly those two captions. A copy of it here would go stale without anybody noticing. Immigration New Zealand does state that visas not listed do not have any English language requirements, so use the tool itself rather than our summary of it.

We have not reproduced any test content.

How we researched this guide

The seven accepted tests, the in-person and two year conditions, and every score in the comparison table come from Immigration New Zealand's own English language requirement pages, read directly, all nine of them, which are the nine visa pages named one by one under book it in person. Between them those nine pages publish fourteen numbered score tables, and each one has a row above carrying its own caption or heading condition. Every table in the comparison above is drawn from that set of fourteen, so nine and fourteen are the only two counts this guide uses for its score data.

The qualifications table on the Meeting English language requirements page is a different list serving a different purpose, so we have kept it separate rather than merging it into the test tables. The lessons charge bands come from the Learning English for families of resident visa applicants page, including the Parent Resident Visa carve-out printed under its own heading there.

The 1 June 2026 extension to skill level 3, the OET in-person change of 13 July 2026 and the five year validity from 24 August 2026 come from Immigration New Zealand news centre items. The partner half of that five year validity is not in any news item, so we have taken it from the 2026 changes to the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa guidance page and cited that page separately rather than letting the news item carry a line it does not contain. The binding wording, the officer's power to require a test regardless, and the seasonal visa carve-out come from Operational Manual instructions SR2.10 and WA4.12.

We checked the Operational Manual against the guidance pages rather than assuming they agreed. They do not always. An archived instruction still visible online states OET Grade B for skilled residence, while the current instruction and the current guidance page both state Grade C+. Where two official sources disagree, we have said so above rather than picking one.

Every scope condition in the comparison table was taken from the table caption or the heading block it sits under, because on this subject the condition is the fact. The score alone is not usable.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app. It is not on any Immigration New Zealand list, it does not prepare or support a visa application, and no session here counts as evidence of anything. What the in-person rule means for you is practical instead: there is no remote shortcut, so you will be speaking to a person or into a microphone at a test centre, and the thing that moves that is producing unscripted speech regularly. You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still going. The free tier gives basic feedback within its limits of three sessions a day, five minutes and four turns per session; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card, each free session capped at five minutes and four turns. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a full session.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, not an immigration adviser, and we are not affiliated with Immigration New Zealand, the IELTS partners, ETS, Pearson, Cambridge University Press & Assessment, Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly, and for the level your visa route requires, read immigration.govt.nz. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

Sources

FAQ

Which English tests does New Zealand accept for a visa?
Immigration New Zealand names seven on its current pages: IELTS General or Academic module, IELTS One Skill Retake, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge B2 First, B2 First for Schools, and OET, which its own page describes as designed for health care professionals. The list of tests is the same across visa categories, but the pass mark attached to it is not, so read the page for your own visa rather than a general list.
What IELTS score do I need for a New Zealand visa?
There is no single figure, which is the main thing to take away. For a skilled residence visa the principal applicant needs an overall score of 6.5 or more, while that person's partner or dependent child aged 16 or older needs 5 or more. An Accredited Employer Work Visa at skill level 3 to 5 needs 4 or more. An Entrepreneur Resident Visa or an Employees of Relocating Business Resident Visa needs 4 or more, the same 4 applies to the partner or dependent child aged 16 or older on those two, and the same 4 again on a Dependent Child Resident Visa where the parent holds one of them. The China Working Holiday Visa needs 5.5, and the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam schemes need 4.5.
Can I take the English test online from home for a New Zealand visa?
No. All nine Immigration New Zealand visa pages that publish a score table carry the rule. Eight of the nine word it identically: you will need to sit the test in person at a test centre, and tests taken remotely outside of a test centre, such as at home tests, are not acceptable. The ninth, the Dependent Child Resident Visa page, states the same rule in the third person, because the person sitting the test there is the child. The ESOL lessons page repeats the identical wording as well, although what it publishes is tuition charge bands rather than a visa score table. Three pages carry no version of it, the English language requirements index, the Meeting English language requirements page and the tests tool page, and none of those three publishes a score table. The binding instruction SR2.10.1 repeats the same condition. From 13 July 2026 that includes every part of the OET, and the OET@Home product has never been accepted at all.
How long is an English test valid for a New Zealand visa?
The default rule is that your result must be no more than 2 years old at the time you apply, which is measured at your application date rather than your test date. From 24 August 2026 the Immigration New Zealand news item says test results will be valid for 5 years for Skilled Migrant Category applicants who hold a recognised occupational registration. A second page, the 2026 changes to the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa page, adds that an included partner's results also last 5 years, but only if that partner holds an eligible occupational registration of their own. Both sources are framed around the Skilled Migrant Category only, so do not carry the 5 years onto another visa.
Does my partner need an English test for a New Zealand visa?
It depends entirely on the visa, and the answer flips between categories. On a skilled residence visa your partner and dependent children aged 16 or older do need one, at a lower score than yours. On an Accredited Employer Work Visa they do not. On a Long Term Skill Shortage List or Talent resident visa the position inverts completely and only the family has a requirement. There is no requirement for children younger than 16.
Does a British or American passport exempt me from the New Zealand English test?
Not on its own. Immigration New Zealand lists Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States, but the condition sits in the heading block above the list rather than in the country rows: you must have spent at least 5 years working or studying in one of those countries, or in Australia or New Zealand. Separately, an immigration officer may still require a principal applicant to provide a test result.

Curious how it works? Explore SpeakShark's features or see plans and pricing.

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