What is functional English for an Australian visa?
Functional English for an Australian visa is the level demonstrated through one of the passport, study, schooling or test routes listed on Home Affairs’ Functional English page.
It is an evidentiary standard, not a requirement to take a test in every case. Home Affairs’ Functional English page provides separate routes based on citizenship and a valid passport, a qualifying award, schooling or Australian study, and an accepted test result. Start by identifying which route your records support.
This page explains that named standard and its English-related charge consequence for an 858 application; it does not set the English standard for every Australian visa.
Functional English test scores (tests from 7 August 2025)
Functional English test scores for tests taken from 7 August 2025 include an IELTS average band score of at least 4.5 and PTE Academic 24, according to Home Affairs’ Functional English page.
Functional English scores for tests taken from 7 August 2025, according to Home Affairs’ Functional English page, updated 21 September 2026.
| Test | Minimum published score |
|---|---|
| IELTS Academic or General Training | Average band score of at least 4.5. |
| PTE Academic | 24. |
| TOEFL iBT | 26. |
| CELPIP General | 5. |
| MET | 38. |
| LANGUAGECERT Academic | 38. |
| OET | 1020. |
Home Affairs’ Functional English page requires the test to have been taken in the 12 months before the visa application. Check the date you took the test, rather than the date the result was issued, against both that window and the 7 August 2025 table boundary. For TOEFL iBT, select “Taking TOEFL for Australia” when registering; Home Affairs warns that results registered outside that pathway may not be accepted for Australian visa purposes.
Home Affairs’ Functional English page publishes IELTS as an average band score. The other numbers above should not be read as identical band measures or as minimum scores for each individual skill. PTE Academic 30 belongs to the older table, not the table for tests taken from 7 August 2025.
Functional English without a test: passport, study and schooling
Functional English without a test is established through the qualifying passport, study or schooling routes on Home Affairs’ Functional English page.
The three non-test route groups on Home Affairs’ Functional English page are:
- Passport: qualifying citizenship together with a valid passport.
- Study or training: a qualifying award with the required full-time duration and English-language instruction.
- Schooling or Australian study: one of the listed education alternatives.
Which passports show functional English?
The passport route requires citizenship of Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK or the US and a valid passport issued by that country, according to Home Affairs’ Functional English page.
The five countries listed on Home Affairs’ Functional English page are:
- Canada.
- New Zealand.
- Ireland.
- The United Kingdom.
- The United States.
This is a separate proof route, so a qualifying applicant does not need a test to establish functional English through it. Birthplace or residence alone is not the citizenship-and-valid-passport condition listed by Home Affairs’ Functional English page.
Which study qualifications show functional English?
The study route requires a degree, higher degree, diploma or trade certificate involving at least two years of full-time study or training, all in English, according to Home Affairs’ Functional English page.
“Two years studying in English” is therefore incomplete: Home Affairs’ Functional English page also specifies the award type and full-time duration. As a preparation suggestion, gather the qualification and institutional records that document these features and the language of instruction; this is not an official mandatory-document checklist.
Which schooling routes show functional English?
Home Affairs’ Functional English page lists three alternatives:
- All primary education plus at least three years of secondary education in English.
- At least five years of secondary education in English.
- At least one year of full-time study, or its part-time equivalent, at an institution in Australia where all instruction was in English, towards a degree, higher degree, diploma or associate diploma.
The Australian-study alternative on Home Affairs’ Functional English page is separate from the two-year qualifying-award route. It can use the part-time equivalent of one year of full-time study towards a listed award; completing a two-year qualification is not required.
Are online English tests accepted?
No. Home Affairs’ Functional English page does not accept English tests delivered completely online or at home.
The exclusion on Home Affairs’ Functional English page concerns delivery mode, not simply the test’s name. It should not be read as excluding all computer-based tests or accepting every variant of a listed test.
Functional English on an 858: no English criterion, but $4,890 per adult without it
Functional English on an 858 affects the second instalment rather than a separate English-proficiency grant criterion: the Migration Regulations 1994 do not list that criterion in Part 858, but Schedule 1 item 1113 sets the applicable English-related charge.
Under Schedule 1 item 1113(2)(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994, the $4,890 charge applies to each relevant applicant who was 18 or over at application and is assessed as not having functional English, subject to the specified family-violence exception, as at 3 October 2026.
Who pays the $4,890 second instalment?
As at 3 October 2026, Schedule 1 item 1113(2)(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets $4,890 for each primary or secondary applicant who was at least 18 at application and is assessed as not having functional English, except applicants covered by 858.321(3), (3A) or (4).
Schedule 1 item 1113 applies separately to each relevant applicant: this is not one English-related charge for the whole application, and it does not apply to a non-migrating family member merely because they are related to an applicant. The age test is age at application, not age at grant.
What if you choose to pay instead of giving evidence?
Home Affairs’ National Innovation visa page, updated 4 September 2026, allows applicants to elect to pay rather than show functional-English evidence and asks for a statement showing the intention to pay for each person without functional English.
The statement records that choice for each person; it is not the payment itself. The English-related charge under Schedule 1 item 1113 of the Migration Regulations 1994 does not replace the grant criteria in Part 858.
The second instalment of the visa application charge
The second instalment of the visa application charge is the additional English-related amount set by Schedule 1 item 1113(2)(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994 for the applicable 858 applicants, separate from the first instalment.
VAC means visa application charge; second VAC is shorthand for its second instalment. The following table describes the specific English-related rule in Schedule 1 item 1113(2)(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994, not a universal amount across visa subclasses.
| Applicant’s position | English-related second instalment under this rule |
|---|---|
| Primary or secondary applicant, 18 or over at application, assessed as not having functional English, outside the specified exception. | $4,890, as at 3 October 2026. |
| Applicant establishes functional English. | The English-related second-instalment trigger does not apply. |
| Applicant was under 18 at application. | The adult English-related second-instalment trigger does not apply. |
| Applicant covered by 858.321(3), (3A) or (4). | Nil under the specified family-violence exception. |
When is the second instalment paid?
Home Affairs’ National Innovation visa page says the second instalment is payable before grant and requested only if the Department is going to grant the visa.
That is a before-grant payment stage, not a charge payable with an Expression of Interest. Home Affairs’ National Innovation visa page describes when payment is requested; a payment request is not itself a visa grant.
Older test results (before 7 August 2025)
Older test results taken on or before 6 August 2025 use the historical scores on Home Affairs’ Functional English page, rather than the table for tests taken from 7 August 2025.
The historical scores published on Home Affairs’ Functional English page are:
| Older test | Historical minimum published score |
|---|---|
| IELTS | 4.5. |
| PTE Academic | 30. |
| TOEFL | 32. |
| C1 Advanced | 147. |
Home Affairs’ Functional English page says older results were usable until 6 August 2026 depending on the visa. Taken together with its 12-month-before-application rule, that means the older-test window has closed for a fresh application as at 3 October 2026; this is a conclusion drawn from the Department’s published dates, not a quoted Department statement.
This conclusion does not establish that older evidence is invalid in every already-lodged application.
Paying the English-related charge is distinct from the Australian Values Statement undertaking. The Migration (Australian Values Statement for Public Interest Criterion 4019) Instrument 2025, LIN 25/086, includes the permanent-visa undertaking to make reasonable efforts to learn English if it is not the applicant’s native language. The 858 age-at-application signing rules are separately set by 858.221(b) and 858.322(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994.
Functional English and the 858 cost and requirements
Functional English and the 858 cost and requirements are separate checks: Home Affairs’ Functional English page identifies the proof routes, while Schedule 1 item 1113 of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets the applicable second instalment.
Identify the evidence route for each relevant applicant, or, where the charge applies, state the intention to pay as requested by Home Affairs’ National Innovation visa page.
For the broader checks, read the 858 visa requirements, the cost information about the 858 second instalment, and the overall 858 visa guide.
Ask an Australian migration lawyer to check each relevant adult’s proof route, test date and supporting records, and any required intention-to-pay statement, against the application date before lodgement. The site enquiry form accepts questions addressed to Australian Migration Lawyers. A reference appears only after the email send is accepted and its status recorded.