When assessing your nationality, we consider that the following are majority English-speaking countries:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• the Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Canada
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• the United States of America

We will confirm your nationality using your passport.

A higher education institution (HEI) is a 'recognised body' (meaning that it has its own UK degree-awarding powers), or a body in receipt of public funding as a HEI.

Institutions (including further education colleges) which receive some public funding to deliver higher education courses do not fall within this definition of an HEI.

You can find a list of designated bodies on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website.

You can find a list of bodies in receipt of public funding as HEIs on the following organisations' websites:

• Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland
• Higher Education Funding Council for England
• Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
• Scottish Funding Council

Richmond, the American International University in London is also an HEI, because it is recognised in statute in The Education (Recognised Awards) (Richmond The American International University in London) Order 2006.

The method of assessing your English language skills will depend on whether you will be studying an English language course.

For these purposes, we do not consider that your course is an English language course if it:

• combines English language and another subject, such as Tourism and English; or
• is assessed against the National Qualifications Framework - for example, an A level in English Language is not considered to be an English language course.

If you will be studying an English language course, it will be your education provider's responsibility to assess your competence in English, and to decide how to carry out the assessment.

If you are not studying an English language course, your education provider must check that you:

• have successfully completed a course as a Tier 4 (Child) student (or under the student rules that were in force before 31 March 2009, if you were given permission to stay in the UK while you were under 18 years old) - the course must have lasted for at least 6 months, and must have ended no more than 2 years before the date when your sponsor assigns your CAS; or
• have passed an English language test (which is still within its validity date) from the list of approved tests for Tier 4, and have achieved at least CEFR level B1 in all four components (reading, writing, speaking and listening) unless the test provider exempted you from sitting a component because of a disability.

You can find a list of approved English language tests for Tier 4 (including the time period for which they are valid and the scores that you must must achieve to meet CEFR level B1 in all 4 components) under 'Related documents' on the right side of this page.

If your education provider uses an approved English language test or a course completed by you as a child student to check your competence in English language, they will include information about this test or course in your CAS.

If you will be taking a course at NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 at a higher education institution, and you are not a gifted student or a national of a majority English-speaking country, your education provider must ensure that you:

• have successfully completed an academic qualification, at least equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree, which was taught in a majority English-speaking country (see below); or
• have successfully completed a course as a Tier 4 (Child) student (or under the student rules that were in force before 31 March 2009, if you were given permission to stay in the UK while you were under 18 years old) - the course must have lasted for at least 6 months, and must have ended no more than 2 years before the date when your sponsor assigns your CAS; or
• are proficient at CEFR level B2 in each of the 4 components of language learning (reading, writing, speaking and listening), by choosing its own method of assessing your English language ability.

If you will be taking a course at NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 at any other institution, and you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, your education provider must ensure that you have:

• successfully completed an academic qualification, at least equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree, which was taught in a majority English-speaking country (see below); or
• successfully completed a course as a Tier 4 (Child) student (or under the student rules that were in force before 31 March 2009, if you were given permission to stay in the UK while you were under 18 years old) - the course must have lasted for at least 6 months, and must have ended no more than 2 years before the date when your sponsor assigns your CAS; or
• passed an approved English language test that is still within its validity date, and achieved at least CEFR level B2 in all 4 components (reading, writing, speaking and listening) unless exempted from sitting a component by a test provider on the basis of a disability. You can download the list of approved tests from the right side of this page.

If you will be taking a course at NQF 3-5/QCF 3-5/SCQF 6-8, and you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, your education provider must ensure that you have:

• successfully completed an academic qualification, at least equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree, which was taught in English in a majority English-speaking country (see below); or
• successfully completed a course as a Tier 4 (Child) student (or under the student rules that were in force before 31 March 2009, if you were given permission to stay in the UK while you were under 18 years old) - the course must have lasted for at least 6 months, and must have ended no more than 2 years before the date when your sponsor assigns your CAS; or
• passed an approved English language test that is still within its validity date, and achieved at least CEFR level B1 in all 4 components (reading, writing, speaking and listening) unless exempted from sitting a component by a test provider on the basis of a disability. You can download the list of approved tests from the right side of this page.

What is a majority English-speaking country?

We consider that your academic qualification was was taught in a majority English-speaking country if it was taught in:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• the Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• New Zealand
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• the UK
• the USA.

If your education provider uses this qualification to check that you are competent in English language, they must include information about the qualification in your CAS. You must include your course certificate with your application to us. We will check that the qualification is at least equivalent to a UK degree using UK NARIC.

If you will be enrolling on a course at NQF 6/QCF 6/SCQF 9 or above at a UK higher education institution (university), which considers you to be a 'gifted student', you do not need to meet the English language requirement.

The university's academic registrar must personally authorise the issue of your CAS to you. The CAS must confirm that the academic registrar has approved the waiving of the English language requirement. The university will also give you a letter confirming this. If you are applying from overseas, you should ensure that you have the letter with you when you enter the UK.