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Fiance(e) or proposed civil partner of a British citizen or settled person

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Evidence of your English language ability

This page describes the documents that you must provide to prove your English language ability, if you are applying as the fiance(e) or prospective civil partner of a British citizen or someone who is settled here.

This information is based on Part 8 of the Immigration Rules.

For details of the English language requirement, see the English language requirement page.

National of a majority English-speaking country

All applicants must submit their current original passport or travel document with their application.

If you are a national of a majority English-speaking country, your passport or travel document is evidence of your nationality. You will not need to provide any other documents to meet the English language requirement.

Approved English language test

If you want to show that you meet the English language requirement because you have passed an English language test approved by us, you must provide your original test result certificate.

The certificate must clearly show:

  • your name
  • the qualification obtained
  • the date of the award

The test must be on our list of approved English language tests, which you can download from the right side of this page.

Degree taught in English

If you want to show that you meet the English language requirement because you hold an acceptable degree taught in English, you should provide the original certificate of your award.

This certificate must be original, and must clearly show:

  • your name
  • the title of the award
  • the date of the award
  • the name of the awarding institution

Original provisional certificates are not acceptable.

You must provide the original certificate of your award unless:

  • you have successfully completed your degree but you are awaiting graduation; or 
  • you no longer have the certificate and the awarding institution cannot issue a replacement.

In either of those situations, you must provide the original academic reference from the institution, and the original academic transcript. Both documents must be on the institution's official headed paper.

The original academic reference must clearly show:

  • your name
  • the title of the award
  • confirmation that the certificate will be or has been issued
  • the date that the certificate will be issued, or confirmation that the institution cannot issue a replacement

The original academic reference will not be suitable evidence if it does not state which qualification has been awarded.

The academic transcript must clearly show:

  • your name
  • the name of the academic institution
  • the course title
  • confirmation of the award

You should ensure that the contact details for the awarding body are up to date. If we need to verify the details and we cannot contact the institution, we will not accept this evidence and may therefore refuse your application.