The Trinity College B1 exam (GESE Grade 5)

GOV.UK lists the routes that need a speaking and listening test: citizenship, settlement (indefinite leave to remain, or ILR), partner, parent, International Sportsperson and Representative of an Overseas Business. Each route sets its own CEFR level. GOV.UK asks for B1 or higher for British citizenship, and B1 for settlement applications made before 26 March 2027. A first partner or parent visa needs at least A1 and an extension after 2.5 years at least A2, and GOV.UK says you can take a higher level. Work and study routes need a test of all four skills, which GESE isn’t: Trinity’s four-skill SELT is Integrated Skills in English (ISE).

The Home Office’s Statement of Changes HC 1691, published on 5 March 2026, raises the English requirement for settlement from B1 to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. It covers routes including Skilled Worker, Global Talent, UK Ancestry, long residence, private life, settlement family life and bereaved partners. Settlement applications made before that date need B1. Trinity says settlement applicants on the British National (Overseas) (BN(O)), HM Armed Forces and Domestic Worker in a Private Household routes keep the B1 requirement. Trinity offers GESE Grade 7, a 15-minute speaking and listening exam, as its B2 test for settlement. The Home Office list of approved SELTs taken in the UK, as GOV.UK linked it on 2 November 2026, doesn’t name a B2 speaking and listening test, so check that list before you book.

Trinity’s conversion table turns your two letter grades into one of four results: Pass with Distinction, Pass with Merit, Pass or Fail. At Grade 5 only two Ds is a fail, so AD or CD is a Pass. The Home Office list asks for a Pass. Trinity says it may adjust its grade thresholds or how it combines marks.

Trinity emails a provisional result by 9am the day after your test. It isn’t confirmed until Trinity approves it, and the email with your final result comes 4 to 7 days after the test. Within 24 hours of that, an email from ‘Trinity College London via Accredible’ links to your digital certificate. If you passed, you use the Unique Electronic Reference Number (UER) printed on it, which looks like TCL/123456/123456/123456789, in your UKVI application.

GOV.UK says SELT results are valid for 2 years from the date they’re awarded, and your test must be awarded in the 2 years before you apply. There are two exceptions. For citizenship, you can use an expired B1 or higher result if it was accepted when you settled. For settlement, you can use one that’s on the list of recognised tests and was accepted for another UK immigration application. From 26 March 2027 that only helps if the result is at the level your route then asks for, which is B2 on the routes the change covers. Trinity’s certificates never expire as proof of your grade, but that isn’t the same as visa use.

You book and pay for another test, unless you bought Trinity’s Exam Protect add-on when you booked. It can’t be bought after the exam. With Exam Protect, a fail gives you one resit at no extra cost, which you must take within 4 months of your original exam date, using the voucher code Trinity emails you. Exam Protect also lets you move your test date once. Trinity’s SELT pages don’t set a waiting time before you book again.

No. Trinity ran a short pilot of SELTs at home, which has ended. GOV.UK says your test must be sat at an approved test location, so you go to a Trinity SELT centre.

It depends which one you mean. GESE Grade 5 is regulated as a TCL Entry Level Certificate in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) International Speaking and Listening at Entry 3, and that’s the exam you book as Trinity’s B1 SELT and take at a Trinity SELT centre. Trinity’s ESOL Skills for Life Entry 3 is a different exam, for learners aged 16 and over who live in the UK. GOV.UK says ESOL qualifications only count for citizenship or settlement if they’re on the approved SELT list, and for Trinity that list names GESE and ISE only.

It plans to. Ofqual’s Chief Regulator’s report of 18 March 2026 says the Home Office has invited tenders for a single-provider, digital-first SELT, with first delivery aimed at early 2027. GOV.UK’s SELT guidance, updated on 2 November 2026, lists Trinity as one of four approved providers for tests in the UK. Check that page before you book.