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Canada To Ease IELTS Score For SDS Study Visa W.E.F. Aug 10

June 8, 2023

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Last Updated On 8 June 2023, 11:44 AM EDT (Toronto Time)

As per official IDP IELTS website, Canada study visa applicants via SDS will no longer need IELTS Score (Academic) of 6 bands in each module.

Instead, only an overall score of 6 will be required in IELTS Academic starting August 10, 2023.

For example, if you have a score of 5.5 in Reading and Writing, and 6.5 in Speaking and Listening, your overall score would be 6 and you will be eligible to apply Canada study visa under Student Direct Stream (SDS).

However, IRCC will require a band score of 6.0 in each module (Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking) for IELTS Score under General Training (GT).

There is no official update from IRCC confirming this, but we (INC News) reached out to IDP IELTS to confirm this information and they responded with information mentioned in snippet below.

This is really a good news for a lot of students who were ineligible for SDS study visa because their IELTS Score was less than 6 only in 1 or 2 modules, but otherwise had overall high score than 6 bands.

The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has recently approved 4 new English language examinations for Canada Study Visa via Student Direct Stream (SDS).

The Pearson PTE Academic, TOEFL internet-based Test (iBT), and Canadian Academic English Language Assessment (CAEL) are the new English tests that will be accepted by IRCC as evidence of English proficiency for SDS beginning August 10, 2023.

English Language Test	Minimum Score Needed for SDS
IELTS Academic	Overall 6.0
IELTS General Training	6.0 in each module
PTE Academic	Overall 60
CAEL	Overall 60
CELPIP General	7.0 in each module
TOEFL iBT	Overall 83