Can you use TOEFL for an Australian visa?

Home Affairs publishes a minimum for each of the four components, except Functional English, which uses a total. Each figure below was copied from the level's own page on 14 October 2026. Home Affairs shows them as component scores such as '16 for listening' and does not restate them on ETS's 1–6 scale, so check your score report against these numbers or ask Home Affairs.

Results from tests taken on or before 6 August 2025 can be used until 6 August 2028 inclusive, depending on the visa, against the older score table (Home Affairs). For Functional English that window closed on 6 August 2026 (Functional English). Tests from 26 July 2023 to 4 May 2024 never count.

The Student visa uses an overall TOEFL iBT total. The test must be within the 2 years before you lodge, or before the decision if you are at Streamlined Evidence level and the department asks for evidence. Citizens holding passports from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland are exempt (subclass 500).

For Vocational, Competent, Proficient and Superior English the test must fall in the 3 years before your visa application, depending on the subclass; for Functional English it is 12 months (Competent English) (Functional English). That is longer than ETS's own 2-year score validity (TOEFL score validity). Which level your visa needs is set on the visa's own page.

ETS posts TOEFL iBT Australia scores about 4–8 days after the test, against about 3 days for standard TOEFL iBT (bulletin). If you are weighing other tests, Home Affairs also accepts IELTS and PTE Academic: see IELTS for Australian skilled visas or try a PTE mock test for Australia.