Hi.My fiancee is applying for a fiance' visa and has to take the CEFR A1 English test.I looked up the address given on UKgov site and she has enquired about taking it.She told me she can take it in August but they told her she has to do a course before sitting it.The total cost being £270, I thought you could just do the exam for around £90 .Her spoken and written English is good,does she have to take the course? Thanks Dave.
She needs to do IELTS life skills TEST for UKVI for fiancée visa. Your looking at the citizenship test. https://www.ielts.org/what-is-ielts/ielts-for-migration/united-kingdom
My Mrs did A1. That’s the minimum requirement. Very easy to do. If shes nervous that’s probably easiest just to get the appropriate test out of the way. My Mrs English is very good but was nervous about doing it so did the easiest to get so we could apply the visa.
If you can hold a half intelligible conversation with your partner in English, she will be fine for the A1 test. My partner learned no English at school and picked up a pidgin version of English on that job as a grown up. Her English ability is still quite low, but she passed the A1 with ease. By all means, do some practice tests with your partner for her own confidence, but don't think that it's necessary to shell out for some paid courses.