You have already spent money on this decision once, maybe without realizing it. Someone in a forum told you Duolingo was cheaper and faster, so you booked it, studied for two weeks, passed comfortably, and felt good about yourself. Then you went to actually submit your UK visa application and discovered, right at the worst possible moment, that the test you took is not on the list UK Visas and Immigration will accept. That specific mistake happens constantly, and it is entirely avoidable once you understand how these tests actually differ by destination, not just by price and convenience.
Why this decision matters more than it seems to
An English test is not one universal product. Four major English proficiency tests exist right now, IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic, and the Duolingo English Test, and each one has a different relationship with different countries’ immigration authorities. A university might happily accept a test that the visa office for that same country will reject outright. These are two separate approval lists, set by two separate organizations, and confusing them is the single most common and most costly mistake people make in this part of the process.
IELTS: still the safest default for UK and Canada
IELTS, run jointly by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge, remains the most universally accepted test for immigration purposes specifically, not just university admission.
For a UK Skilled Worker visa, you generally need IELTS for UKVI specifically, a version of the test recognized as a Secure English Language Test, meeting a minimum of B1 level for most work routes and B2 for more senior roles.
For Canada, IELTS is accepted for both Express Entry and provincial programs, scored on Canada’s Language Benchmark scale rather than the UK’s simple band score, so the same test result gets interpreted differently depending on which country is reading it.
The test itself runs close to three hours, includes a face to face speaking component with a real human examiner, and costs somewhere between 215 and 245 US dollars depending on where you sit it. If you tend to perform better talking to an actual person than speaking into a microphone for an algorithm, this format genuinely favors you.
PTE Academic: the fast, computer scored alternative that also works
PTE Academic, run by Pearson, is fully computer based with AI scoring across every section, no human examiner involved anywhere in the process. It is explicitly accepted by UK Visas and Immigration and by Canada’s IRCC, alongside strong acceptance for Australian immigration specifically. Results typically arrive within one to two business days, considerably faster than IELTS, and the cost sits close to 190 to 210 US dollars. If speed matters because you are racing a job offer deadline or a visa application window, PTE’s fast turnaround is a genuine practical advantage over IELTS.
Duolingo: cheap, fast, and specifically not accepted where you may need it most
This is where the confusion causes real financial damage. The Duolingo English Test costs around 59 US dollars, delivers results within 48 hours, and can be taken entirely from home on a laptop. For university admissions, its acceptance has grown substantially, with thousands of institutions now recognizing it, including a growing number in the US and Canada.
But for UK immigration purposes specifically, Duolingo is not accepted. Not for a Skilled Worker visa, not as a Secure English Language Test for any UK immigration route. For Canada’s IRCC, the picture is similarly restrictive for economic immigration streams, IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, and CELPIP are the accepted tests, and Duolingo does not currently appear on that list for Canadian immigration purposes, even though some Canadian universities accept it for admission. The gap between what a university will take and what the visa office will take is exactly where people lose weeks of preparation time and real money, taking the wrong test first because it looked cheaper and faster on the surface.
The healthcare exception worth knowing if this applies to you
If you are a nurse, doctor, or another regulated healthcare professional, there is a fifth test that matters more than any of the four above. OET, the Occupational English Test, is built specifically around healthcare scenarios and is accepted instead of IELTS by nursing and medical registration bodies across the UK, Australia, Ireland, and several other countries.
If your career path runs through healthcare registration rather than a general Skilled Worker route, check whether OET is the more direct and relevant choice before defaulting to IELTS simply because it is the test everyone else talks about.
How to actually decide, in the right order
Start with your destination’s immigration authority, not the university, and not a forum recommendation. Check the UK’s official Secure English Language Test list, or IRCC’s accepted test list for Canada, before booking anything. This single step, done first, prevents almost every version of the mistake described above.
If your destination accepts multiple tests, then weigh your own strengths honestly. IELTS suits people who communicate better in live conversation and do not mind a longer test format.
PTE suits people comfortable with a fully digital, AI scored environment who want faster results. Neither is objectively easier, they simply reward different kinds of test takers.
Confirm the specific score you need for your visa category, not just a general benchmark you have seen quoted online. A Skilled Worker visa, a healthcare registration, and a Canadian Express Entry application can all require meaningfully different minimum scores on the same test, and aiming for the wrong number wastes both time and the cost of retaking the exam.
Book your test with enough runway before your application deadline that a lower than expected score still leaves room for one retake. IELTS and PTE both allow retakes with no mandatory waiting period, but each attempt costs the full fee again, so build in a buffer rather than testing for the first time right against your deadline.
The honest bottom line
If you are applying for anything immigration related to the UK or Canada, and you are choosing based on price or convenience alone, you are optimizing the wrong variable. IELTS or PTE Academic are the tests that actually clear the bar for these two destinations specifically.
Duolingo’s low cost and convenience are real advantages, but only for the university admissions side of your journey, not the visa side, and treating them as interchangeable is the single most preventable mistake in this entire part of the relocation process.
This article reflects English language test acceptance rules for UK and Canadian immigration purposes as understood at time of writing. Accepted test lists and required score thresholds change periodically and vary by specific visa category. Always verify current requirements directly on gov.uk’s Secure English Language Test list or IRCC’s official language testing guidance before booking any exam.