IELTS for Academic and General Training: transfer and cancellation policy

Please note: This is the policy for IELTS (Academic and General Training), you can find the IELTS for UKVI cancellation and refund policy here.

Please visit our Take IELTS site for the IELTS Online cancellation policy.

Transferring your test date

You may transfer your IELTS test date:

• five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – free of charge
• less than five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – a 25% administration fee will be charged*
• less than three days before the scheduled test date (first component) – no transfers can be arranged, except in the exceptional circumstances stated below.

The transfer test date must be within three months of the original test date. If you are unable to attend on the transfer test date, neither a further transfer nor a refund can be given.

To transfer your test date, please contact us at mmieltsadmin@mm.britishcouncil.org to request the test transfer form.

 

Please note: 

• Payment MUST be made at the point of online booking using a valid credit or debit card that supports international transactions (e.g., Visa, Mastercard, JCB, or any other card accepted for online payments globally). 
• These transactions are subject to the exchange rate and transaction fees imposed by your credit/debit card provider bank.  
• The British Council cannot accept payments from banks or financial institutions sanctioned by the UK or other relevant jurisdictions. 

Cancelling your IELTS test and IELTS refund policy

You may cancel your IELTS registration:

• five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – we will issue a refund of 90% of the test fee* 
• less than five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – you will not be eligible for a refund, except in the exceptional circumstances stated below.

Note that refunds can take up to six weeks to process.

To cancel your IELTS (Academic and General Training) test, please log in to the Test Taker Portal and submit a cancellation request, along with an upload of supporting documentation/evidence.

If a medical certificate confirming illness on the date of the test is provided within five working days of the test date, together with the submitted cancellation request on the Test Taker Portal, the fee is refundable, minus an administration fee of 10% of the test fee*.

Only original medical certificates in Local Language or English are accepted. If we have not received your submitted cancellation request along with an upload of supporting documentation/evidence on the Test Taker Portal by the fifth working day after the test, you will be marked as absent and forfeit all claims.

Please note that we do not accept sick notes issued by family members.

Copies sent by fax or email are not accepted.

Exceptional circumstances to IELTS transfer/cancellation policy

You may be able to request for an exception to be made to the standard IELTS transfer or cancellation policies, with supporting evidence, in cases of:

• serious medical conditions which prevent you from attending or performing normally on test day; as verified by a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner** (does not include minor illness such as a mild cold)
• recent family bereavement
• hardship/trauma – victim of crime, victim of a traffic accident
• other forms of significant hardship
• compulsory military service.

You must submit your exception request in writing to the test centre no later than on the first working day after your scheduled test date. Supporting evidence must be submitted within a maximum of five working days after your scheduled test date. Requests without supporting evidence cannot be considered. Your test centre will respond to you within seven working days.

If your test centre approves your exception request, you will be able to transfer to a new test date free of charge or be eligible for a refund of 90% of the test fee*.

If your test centre does not approve your exception request, then the standard transfer and refund policies, detailed above, will apply.

Test centre exceptions

Under certain circumstances outside test centre control, we may have to cancel your test. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster, civil unrest, industrial action, technicial problems, issues at the venue or other types of disruption or disturbance in the local environment. In these circumstances, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of either:

• A full refund*, or;
• A transfer to a future test date.