CELPIP for Australia: Accepted Visas and Score Requirements

CELPIP-General has been an approved Australian visa English test since 7 August 2025. The Department of Home Affairs accepts it for skilled migration visas (189, 190, 491), the 482 employer-sponsored visa, the 485 graduate visa, and student visas. CELPIP 7 in each skill meets Competent English. CELPIP 9 unlocks ten additional PR points (here's an 8-week study plan to reach CELPIP 9). CELPIP 10+ unlocks twenty.

If you're already preparing for Canadian PR, this is the headline: the same Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing recording you submit for Express Entry now counts for Australian Skilled Migration too. One test, two countries, two of the largest English-speaking immigration programs in the world.

Below: the official approval timeline, the full visa-acceptance matrix, the CELPIP-to-Australian-PR-points conversion, the test logistics inside Australia, and a short take on CELPIP versus PTE and IELTS for a Down Under application. For the wider field, see all six DHA-accepted English tests compared.

The change is significant for two audiences. First, dual-applicant candidates who're weighing both Canadian Express Entry and Australian Skilled Migration can now submit one test result to both systems instead of paying for two separate tests. Second, Canadians and Canadian-trained applicants who already hold a CELPIP result can use it directly toward Australian visa requirements without repeating the assessment.

Prometric Canada, which has owned CELPIP since 2021, announced the addition in a press release dated 6 August 2025. See the official Prometric announcement for the full context. The legislative instrument took effect the following day, 7 August 2025.

The Department of Home Affairs maintains the authoritative list of accepted tests and minimum score thresholds at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au. The official CELPIP site runs an Australia-facing landing page at celpip.ca/au with the latest acceptance status, test centre locations, and pricing.

The announcement is recent enough that some immigration consultants and visa-info sites haven't updated their pages yet. If a third-party source says CELPIP isn't accepted for Australian visas, it's either pre-August-2025 content or out of date. The DHA listing is the source of truth.

Numbers above match the post-2025 DHA framework. Always confirm the threshold for your specific subclass and stream on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before booking the test, because individual occupation streams inside the 482 and state-nomination programs can carry stricter requirements than the visa-class minimum.

Two important catches. First, the band requirement is per skill, not an average. A CELPIP 10 in Listening with a CELPIP 8 in Speaking only counts as Proficient because Speaking is the lowest. Second, the ten- and twenty-point bumps stack against age, work experience, and qualification points, so a single retake to lift one weak skill from 8 to 9 can swing the entire application past a state nomination cut-off.

This is structurally different from Canadian Express Entry, which uses Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) bands and the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). Same test, different scoring downstream. If you're cross-applying, run the numbers on both systems separately rather than assuming the band that works for Canada also maximises Australian points.

Locations are spinning up. The CELPIP Australian rollout has been adding centres through the back half of 2025. Sydney and Melbourne were first; capital-city coverage and regional centres in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra followed. The current centre list lives at celpip.ca/au; check it before booking if you're outside the Sydney-Melbourne corridor.

Cost in Australia sits at roughly AUD $355, with online booking through the official CELPIP portal. Results are returned within four to eight business days through the candidate dashboard, and the official test report can be sent directly to DHA when you submit your visa application. The result is valid for two years from the test date, the same validity window IRCC uses on the Canadian side.

Three things to plan around. First, photo ID at the centre has to match the name on your visa application exactly. Second, the test runs about three hours start-to-finish and you'll need a roughly four-hour booking window with check-in and ID verification. Third, retakes can be booked as soon as a week after the original sitting, so a soft first attempt isn't a six-month penalty.

Three quick takes for picking between them.

• Pick CELPIP if you're applying to Canada and Australia. CELPIP is the only one of the three tests that's a primary acceptance route for Canadian PR. One sitting, one fee, one result that opens both doors.
• Pick PTE if you're a confident typist with crisp pronunciation. PTE's automated scoring is unforgiving on accent edges and timing, but if you fit the algorithm, the score comes back in 48 hours and the test is shorter.
• Pick IELTS only if your target program asks for it specifically. Some Australian education providers and a handful of professional registration bodies (nursing, teaching) still default to IELTS or OET. Confirm before you book.

For Skilled Migration specifically, CELPIP and PTE land at the same DHA acceptance bar and the same points levels. The choice usually comes down to which test format suits the way you actually speak, write, and process information under timed conditions. The full CELPIP versus IELTS write-up sits on the comparison page linked below.

One test, two countries. CELPIP-General's Australian approval makes it the first English test that maps cleanly onto both the Canadian Express Entry and Australian Skilled Migration systems. Aim for CELPIP 9 in each skill if Proficient English would push your points past your state-nomination cut-off, and verify the per-stream requirement on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before you book.