LanguageCert SELT scores for UK visas: the Home Office's minimum for each test and level
LANGUAGECERT is one of the providers the UK Home Office approves for Secure English Language Tests (SELTs), the tests a UK visa, settlement or citizenship application can rely on. It sells three families of SELT: speaking and listening tests at A1, A2 and B1, the four-skill International ESOL SELT at B1 to C2, and the multilevel Academic SELT and General SELT.
The score that counts is not LanguageCert's pass mark. It is the minimum grade in the Home Office's own list of approved SELTs. Everything below is from that list (the editions for tests taken in and outside the UK, linked from GOV.UK's SELT guidance, which was last updated on 26 October 2026) and from LanguageCert's own pages, all read on 29 October 2026.
The Home Office's minimum for each LanguageCert test
Speaking and listening (two skills): International ESOL SELT A1, A2 and B1, each 60/100. LanguageCert's own B1 page says the same: For UK visas, the minimum score needed is 60/100. This is the test family for family visas, extensions, and B1 for settlement or citizenship.
Academic SELT and General SELT (four skills, one test for several levels): 40 in each skill for B1, 60 for B2, 75 for C1. For C2 the list names only the Academic SELT, at 90/100 in each skill. LanguageCert's own Academic SELT table stops at C1.
International ESOL SELT, four skills, one test per level (B1, B2, C1, C2): 33/50 in each skill, with one exception the list prints: for C2, listening is 25/50, reading, writing and speaking 33/50.
Every skill has to reach the minimum on its own. The list gives a minimum per skill, not an average, so a strong reading score does not carry a weak listening one.
The certificate is not the visa result
LanguageCert awards its International ESOL certificate for an average of 60% in speaking and listening, or 50% in the four-skill tests, regardless of whether you have reached your UKVI target scores in each of the language skills tested. So you can hold a LanguageCert certificate and still be below the Home Office minimum in one skill.
For the Academic SELT, certificates and digital badges are given from 40/100. What goes on a visa application is the Test Report and its Unique Reference Number (URN), which LanguageCert emails and uploads to your account.
No two-skill B2 test, and why that matters from March 2027
Settlement today needs B1 in speaking and listening, and from 26 March 2027 HC 1691 raises it to B2 on a long list of routes (our UK guide).
In both editions of the Home Office list we read, every test at B2 or above, from every provider, is a four-skill test. There is no speaking-and-listening-only test above B1. For LanguageCert, B2 means the International ESOL SELT B2 or the Academic or General SELT at 60 in all four skills.
That is about to change. On 31 October 2026 Trinity College London's SELT page said its B2 Speaking & Listening test, GESE Grade 7, will be available later this year, and it was taking registrations of interest. It was not yet bookable that day. See Trinity GESE and ISE explained.
Our reading: a two-skill route to B2 settlement is coming from at least one provider, but until it is on the Home Office list and bookable, the B2 tests you can actually sit cover all four skills. Check the list again before you book; the Home Office updates it.
Length, results and the resit
The B1 speaking and listening test lasts 11 to 13 minutes, in five parts: personal information, a role play, exchanging information about images, listening and responding, and a short talk. The Academic SELT takes 2 hours 34 minutes: listening about 40 minutes (30 questions, each part played twice), reading 50, writing 50 and speaking about 14.
LanguageCert gives official results in 3 working days for both. Its pages advertise Take2, a resit option; on 29 October 2026 the B1 page said the price Includes free resit and ran a limited-time offer of two attempts for the price of one, so check what your booking includes.
Read from Denmark that day, the pages showed €181 for each speaking and listening SELT and €238 for the Academic or General SELT.
SELT results are valid for two years, and the exceptions for an expired B1 are in our UK guide. For the other big tests side by side, see IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, Duolingo and TOEIC compared.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Reading LanguageCert's certificate as proof you met the visa score.
Checking each skill against the Home Office minimum on the Test Report.
LanguageCert awards the certificate on an average, whether or not you reached the UKVI score in each skill.
Assuming a two-skill B2 test already exists for settlement.
Checking the Home Office list on the day you book.
On 29 October 2026 the lists had no speaking-and-listening-only test above B1; Trinity says its GESE Grade 7 B2 test is coming later this year.
Assuming 33/50 in every skill is enough at C2.
Reading the C2 row: listening 25/50, the other three 33/50.
That is what the Home Office list prints for the International ESOL SELT C2.
Questions
What score do I need on the LanguageCert B1 SELT for citizenship?
60/100 on the International ESOL SELT B1 (Speaking & Listening), the minimum in the Home Office's list and on LanguageCert's own page.
What is the LanguageCert Academic SELT score for B2?
60 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking. B1 is 40 in each, C1 75, and C2 (Academic SELT only) 90/100.
Is there a LanguageCert speaking and listening test at B2?
Not on the Home Office lists we read on 29 October 2026: the two-skill tests stopped at B1. On 31 October Trinity said its own B2 speaking and listening SELT, GESE Grade 7, will be available later this year.
How long do LanguageCert SELT results take?
LanguageCert gives official results in 3 working days.
How long is a LanguageCert SELT valid for a UK application?
GOV.UK says SELT results are valid for two years from the date the test is awarded.
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