IELTS Waiver Conditions

People's Republic of China

If you are a Chinese citizen applying from the Peoples's Republic of China to study in a junior or senior secondary school, you may be eligible for a waiver of the requirement to sit the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test.

Note: This waiver does not apply to Chinese citizens from the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Evidence required: Your visa application must include:

• a letter from your education provider supporting the waiver of the IELTS requirement. If an education agent lodges your application and they provide evidence that they are a 'waiver-ready' agent, then this letter is not needed.
• and either
  • evidence of a satisfactory result in an alternative English language test (approved by the department for this purpose) conducted under appropriate test conditions
  or both of the following
  • a letter of admission into the academic stream in a senior secondary school in the People's Republic of China
  • academic records showing a result of at least 75% in English in your Certificate of Graduation from a junior secondary school.

When you lodge your application, you must complete and submit Supplementary form - Student visa subclass 571 (Schools Sector), in addition to Application for a student visa.
See:
Form 157A Application for a student visa (536KB PDF file)
Form 1252 Supplementary form - Student visa subclass 571 (Schools Sector) ( 80KB PDF file)

Other countries

Students from countries other than the People's Republic of China may also be eligible for a waiver of the IELTS requirement.

To be eligible for the waiver, you must provide:

• academic records showing at least 12 months study in English
• evidence of an alternative test result that proves that you have a sound level of English.