September 2026
Your monthly roundup of IELTS developments, testing industry news, and migration policy updates
IELTS developments
IELTS Voices 2026: what test takers say they want
On 7 September the IELTS partners published IELTS Voices 2026, a survey of 8,395 test takers and prospective candidates in 165 countries. The headline finding is about recognition. Four in five respondents (82 per cent) said they would put a test that is accepted as widely as possible ahead of other considerations, and 42 per cent of those sitting IELTS for study said they were weighing more than one country.
The survey also asked how candidates would like governments to handle test choice. Being able to pick from an official list of approved tests was preferred by 43 per cent, against 20 per cent who favoured a single test mandated by government. On cost, 89 per cent said a good outcome mattered as much as or more than a low fee, and 41 per cent said they would pay more for the test they believed gave them the best chance. Two thirds (67 per cent) reported that preparing for IELTS had improved their speaking confidence, their writing, or both.
There is a practical message in those numbers. A candidate who may change destination, or who is applying for study and a visa at the same time, benefits from a single result that travels. IELTS is accepted by more than 13,500 organisations, a figure we reported last month, which is why so many candidates take it once and use it several times.
| The full 24-page report is free to download from ielts.org. If you are still choosing between tests, the recognition search tools on the British Council and IDP websites will tell you within minutes whether every organisation on your list accepts IELTS, and which band scores each one asks for. |
How IELTS keeps the integrity of its results
On 15 September ielts.org published a long explainer, written for admissions staff, on how the test is protected against fraud, impersonation and organised cheating. It is worth reading as a candidate too, because it sets out what happens around you on test day and why.
The partners describe the approach as security in layers. Every candidate’s identity document is checked through a verification platform at registration and again at the centre, and a photograph taken on the day is compared biometrically to catch impostors and repeat offenders. Test versions are assembled from large item banks by automated construction, so no two candidates sit the same questions and advance knowledge of content gives no advantage. Results pass further checks before release and can be held back for investigation. Institutions are encouraged to confirm every result through the IELTS Results Service rather than rely on a paper certificate, since fake verification websites exist.
The article also confirms that Cambridge University Press & Assessment runs a team dedicated to IELTS security and a Security Lab that tests new cheating methods against the system. A follow up piece on results integrity is promised.
For candidates the point is simple. The identity checks, the sealed test room and the trained invigilators exist so that your result is believed without question when it reaches a university or a visa office. That is the value of a test centre model, and it is the reason the delivery mode still matters to governments.
In fact, I was told by one member of an American embassy visa section, that they were more likely to give a visa to a candidate with IELTS than TOEFL.
The wider English language testing sector
Duolingo widens its second camera view
Further to our August report, Duolingo’s own setup guidance now confirms the change we could not verify last month. The phone that serves as the secondary camera must be positioned far enough away to show the candidate’s head and shoulders as well as the screen and keyboard, and the whole of that view must stay within the frame for the entire test. The guidance recommends a rubber phone case and a heavy object to stop the phone sliding, and says a test should be abandoned and restarted if the phone falls.
Remote testing suits many candidates and the added checks are a reasonable response to remote access cheating. They do shift the burden onto the candidate, who now needs a desk deep enough for the angle, a room that can be scanned, and a setup that survives the full session. At an IELTS centre the camera angles, the room and the identity checks are the centre’s responsibility, and the Speaking section is a conversation with an examiner rather than a recording.
HOELT: the Home Office answers questions on security
Two written questions from Blake Stephenson MP, tabled on 28 August, were answered by the Home Office on 3 September. The answers confirm that the Home Office English Language Testing procurement is still live and that the department has consulted the National Cyber Security Centre, with the security schedule for the contract following that body’s Cyber Assessment Framework. Bidders must show compliance with data security, fraud prevention and accessibility standards before any award, and the Home Office says it expects the winning provider to hold or apply for Ofqual recognition. The answer to the second question adds that the new service will carry a regulated fee. The tender notice gives an estimated award decision of 16 November and a contract start of 1 December 2026.
None of this changes the position for IELTS candidates. The IELTS partners withdrew from the tender in March over the fully remote delivery model. Separately, the UK government confirmed on 26 March that IELTS continues to be accepted for visa, immigration and education applications, and that statement remains the operative one.
International migration news for IELTS candidates
United Kingdom
The Home Office laid a new statement of changes, HC 584, on 3 September. Most of it takes effect on 8 October, with some provisions following on 29 October, 30 November and 9 December.
For students the significant change is the annual uplift to the maintenance requirement. From 30 November 2026, applicants must show £1,570 a month for courses in London (up from £1,529) and £1,203 a month elsewhere (up from £1,171), for up to nine months. The maximum accommodation offset rises to £1,570. Applications submitted before 30 November are decided under the current figures, so anyone close to applying gains from doing so before that date.
The statement also prepares the rules for the UK’s return to Erasmus+ from 2027, adding a Government Authorised Exchange scheme and allowing Erasmus+ participants to be sponsored on the Student route for courses that do not lead to an approved qualification, including courses at RQF level 2. Skilled Workers who are recognised as victims of modern slavery will be able to work for any employer for the remainder of their permission. The earned settlement reforms consulted on earlier this year are not in HC 584 and have still not been laid. The B2 English requirement for indefinite leave to remain, already in the rules for applications from 26 March 2027, is unchanged.
Canada
The living cost figure that study permit applicants must evidence rose on 1 September. A single applicant outside Quebec now needs to show CAD 23,448 for the first year, up from CAD 22,895, with the amount for a family of three rising from CAD 35,040 to CAD 35,888. The figure excludes tuition and travel and is adjusted every September in line with Statistics Canada’s low income cut off. Applications made up to 31 August are assessed against the previous table.
The proposed regulation that would let IRCC require language test results from certain International Mobility Program work permit applicants has still not been pre-published in the Canada Gazette. The forward regulatory plan entry has not been updated since 7 April and continues to give spring or summer 2026 as the target, a window that has now closed. Nothing is in force and no streams have been named.
Australia
On 17 September the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, set out the next stage of Australia’s migration changes in a National Press Club address, and the Department of Home Affairs published a summary the same day. The package is designed to bring net overseas migration down to 245,000 this financial year and 225,000 in 2027-28. The department says implementation has begun and will continue over the next 12 months.
Two measures concern students directly. The government will restrict secondary applicants, meaning partners and children, on most Student visas. In his address the minister said the restriction will apply to future grants rather than to students already in Australia with family, and named PhD students and applicants from Pacific and South East Asian countries as exceptions. The government also intends to stop what it calls visa hopping, so that a further Student visa will normally be available only for a course at a higher level than the one just completed. Commencement dates, definitions and the full list of exemptions have not yet been published.
Elsewhere in the package, skilled visa processing priorities under Ministerial Direction 119 are being widened to cover healthcare, construction, education, law enforcement, defence, resources and agriculture, a No Further Stay condition will be attached to all visitor visas, and the Working Holiday Maker programme will move to a ballot for second and third year visas.
| The Australian changes are announcements, not yet rules, and the department has said the details will follow. If you plan to bring family to Australia while you study, or to progress from one course to another, check the Home Affairs website for the commencement date and the exemption list before you commit to a course or a test date. |
What this month means for you
The recurring theme is trust. The IELTS partners spent September explaining how a result is protected from the moment a question is written to the moment a university checks it, while remote tests added another camera angle and a parliamentary answer confirmed that security is the first thing the UK government is asking of its future test provider. A result that is accepted without argument is worth the journey to a test centre.
On money, the UK and Canada have both raised the funds students must show, and both give applicants a window. Apply before 30 November for the UK figures and note that Canada’s new figure already applies. If Australia is your destination, wait for the commencement dates before planning around family members, and choose your next course for its level as much as its content.