The short answer
It depends which gate you mean. Admission and immigration are two separate decisions with two separate lists of accepted tests. Thousands of universities take the Duolingo English Test for an offer. Whether the visa authority also takes it depends on the country, the route and the level of your course — and that is the check people skip.
Immigration rules change more often than anything else on this site, and they change without warning. Treat everything below as the shape of the question, not as the current answer. Before you pay a fee, confirm it on the official immigration website for your country and on your university’s own admissions page.
The two gates nobody separates
Almost every confused forum post about this comes from treating one answer as both. They are not the same question and they are not decided by the same people.
| Admission | Visa | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides | The university | The immigration authority |
| What it gets you | An offer letter | Permission to enter and study |
| Which list applies | The university's own accepted tests | A government list of approved tests |
| Is the Duolingo English Test on it | Very often — thousands of institutions | Depends on the country, route and course level |
An offer in your hand does not mean the visa is satisfied. It is entirely possible to be accepted by a university on a Duolingo English Test score and then be asked for a different test by the visa route — which is an expensive, slow thing to find out in month four.
Not sure where you are starting from? Four questions, about two minutes, no sign-up — and you get an estimated score out of 160 to measure the rest of this against.
United Kingdom
The UK is where this trips the most people, because the answer genuinely splits in two.
- Degree-level course at a licensed student sponsor: the university is normally permitted to assess your English itself, and many accept the Duolingo English Test for exactly this purpose. This is why so many UK universities list it.
- Below degree level, or a pre-sessional English course: UKVI requires a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider. The Duolingo English Test is not an approved SELT, so it will not satisfy this on its own.
So “do UK universities accept it?” and “does the UK Student visa accept it?” have different answers, and which one applies to you is decided by the level of the course you are taking. Check the current approved SELT list on GOV.UK, and ask your university in writing which basis they are using for your offer.
United States, Canada and Australia
- 01United States. The F-1 visa has no English test requirement of its own — the university sets the standard, and most accept the Duolingo English Test. The visa interview itself is conducted in English, which is a separate thing to be ready for and not something a certificate covers.
- 02Canada. The study permit generally rests on your letter of acceptance rather than on a test the permit itself names, so the university’s requirement is usually the operative one. Faster streams have existed with their own narrower test lists, and those streams have changed; check IRCC directly rather than an article.
- 03Australia. The student visa does specify evidence of English for many applicants, from a list the Department maintains. That list has been widened in recent years. Confirm the current version for your subclass before you book anything.
How to actually check, in order
- 01Start with the visa, not the university. It is the harder constraint and the one you cannot negotiate. Find the official page for your exact route.
- 02Then your university’s page, for your course and your intake. Requirements differ between courses at the same institution, and between years.
- 03Read for nationality conditions, not just the score table. A few institutions accept the test generally but exclude applicants from particular countries — covered in the guide for students in Pakistan.
- 04Email admissions and keep the reply. One sentence: do you accept the Duolingo English Test for this course and this intake, and what score do you require? A written answer is worth more than any page you can find.
- 05Only then book the test. See what score you need by country and level.
If your route needs a different test
It is not wasted preparation. The skills are the same and much of the practice transfers — the formats differ, the English does not. The comparison with IELTS sets out what actually changes between them.
If your route does accept it, the next question is where you currently stand. 7 days of full access is free and needs no card — enough to sit a full mock and see a score before you commit to a test date.
Sit a mock free