What IELTS score do you need for a UK Student visa?

If you are studying at degree level or above with a Higher Education Provider, gov.uk says the provider "can assess your level of English themselves", so it may ask you to take a different test. That assessment must still be equivalent to B2 (gov.uk).

If you do not have a qualification that proves your English, you need a Secure English Language Test (SELT) from an approved provider. The approved four-skill SELTs are IELTS for UKVI, PTE Academic UKVI, LanguageCert Academic or General SELT, Skills for English UKVI (PSI, outside the UK) and Trinity ISE (in the UK). The test must be sat at an approved test location and awarded in the two years before you apply.

Other accepted proof: a GCSE, A level, Scottish National Qualification level 4 or 5, or Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher in English from a UK school you began before age 18; a degree taught in English and awarded by a UK institution; or a degree taught in English outside the UK, confirmed by an Ecctis assessment as equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree or higher.

You are exempt if you are from, or completed a qualification equivalent to a UK degree in, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British overseas territories, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, Malta, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK or the USA (gov.uk).

You are also exempt if you are a national of Canada, if you are coming for a study abroad programme that is part of a university degree course in the USA, or if you proved your level of English in a previous visa application.