“This university doesn't need IELTS” is one of the most repeated sentences in study-abroad advice, and one of the most expensive to misread. It is often true. It is also, on its own, not enough to get you a visa.
Your university and the visa office are two different bodies making two different decisions. A university can decide it is satisfied with your English. The country's immigration department decides separately whether it is satisfied. Students who treat the first as covering the second are the ones who collect an offer letter, book a flight, and then meet a refusal.
Here is what the waiver routes actually are, checked against the governments' own pages in October 2026.
What an MOI letter is, and what it is not
A Medium of Instruction letter is a letter from your college confirming your degree was taught and examined in English. Indian universities issue them routinely, usually from the controller of examinations or the registrar.
It is a real document and it does real work — at the admissions stage. Plenty of universities will accept it in place of a test score when deciding whether to make you an offer.
What it is not is a visa document that immigration departments treat as proof of English by itself. That is the gap most pages skip, and it is the one that matters.
The UK: your university genuinely can decide — but read the second route carefully
For a UK Student visa at degree level, you need English equivalent to CEFR level B2. A secure English language test (SELT) is needed only if you have no qualification that already proves your English.
And there is a genuine no-test route, in the Home Office's own words: “your Higher Education Provider (HEP) can assess your level of English themselves.” Your university may set its own test or interview instead, and that is accepted — though it “must still be equivalent to a CEFR level B2”. This is the legitimate version of “study in the UK without IELTS”.
The second route is where MOI letters get people into trouble. You can also prove English with a degree taught in English — but if that degree was not awarded by a UK institution, the guidance is explicit: you must apply for an assessment from Ecctis, which issues a code confirming your qualification is equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree or higher.
So for this route, the document the Home Office wants is an Ecctis code. A letter from your college is not a substitute for it. If you are planning on an MOI letter alone for a UK visa, that is the sentence to re-read.
Australia: the visa has its own English requirement, full stop
Australia is the clearest case of the two-decisions problem. For the Subclass 500 Student visa, the Department of Home Affairs says you may need to provide evidence of your English, and that you must either have a score in a test the Department has approved, or fall into an exemption category it lists.
Note whose list that is. Not your university's — the Department's. Your university's admission decision does not move it.
Two practical details worth planning around:
- The test must have been completed within the 2 years before you lodge your application.
- Home Affairs publishes a Document Checklist tool that tells you whether you personally need to provide English evidence. It is the only answer specific to you, and it is free.
There is also a live change to be aware of: new Student visa rules took effect on 2 October 2026, affecting who can apply and be granted a visa while in Australia, and whether family can be included. If you are reading older advice about Australia, check its date.
Germany: the university decides, and the visa does not ask
Germany works the way most students assume every country works. There is no separate English test demanded by the visa process; the university sets the requirement, and for most English-taught master's programmes that lands around IELTS 6.5.
What Germany does demand is document verification through APS — and since 2026, the dMAT for some master's applicants. That is a check on your academic record, not your English, and it catches people out for different reasons. We have written that one up separately in our APS and dMAT guide.
What to actually do
- Ask two questions, never one. “Does this university need a test?” and “does this country's visa need one?” They have different answers and different decision-makers.
- Get the MOI letter anyway. It is free, it takes a few days, and it genuinely helps at the admissions stage. Just do not file it as your visa plan.
- For the UK, find out which route you are on — your university assessing you directly, or a prior degree needing an Ecctis code. They need different paperwork and different lead times.
- For Australia, run the Document Checklist tool before you decide you are exempt.
- Check the date on every other page you read. Rules in this area changed in 2026 in at least two countries.
And if it turns out you do need a test, it is worth knowing the options are not just IELTS — our comparison of IELTS, PTE, TOEFL and Duolingo sets out which is accepted where, and our free test preparation and score checker are open to anyone.
This page covers the UK, Australia and Germany because those are the three we could check against the governments' own pages. Other countries set their rules differently — Canada's SDS route and Ireland's requirements both work on their own terms — so treat this as the method rather than the complete list, and confirm your own country against its immigration department before you commit to anything.
Sources: UK Home Office and Australian Department of Home Affairs, read October 2026. Both change without notice; confirm before you act.