Asking a university for an English test waiver

Whether you have a case at all

Waivers are not granted because a test is expensive or a deadline is close. They are granted because the university already has evidence that you can study in English. Be honest with yourself about which row you are in.

The pattern across our nine countries is that waivers are far more common at master's level than at bachelor's, for exactly this reason: a master's applicant can point at a completed English-taught degree, and a school leaver cannot.

What the letter has to say

The single document that carries a waiver request is the medium of instruction letter, issued by your university's registrar or controller of examinations. One phrase decides whether it works:

the medium of instruction and examination was English

A letter saying only that instruction was in English is rejected by a large number of European admissions offices, because it does not establish that you wrote in English. Getting the wording right is the difference between a free document that works and a free document that wastes three weeks — the full detail, including who signs it and what letterhead it needs, is in the MOI certificate guide.

When to ask

Before you pay the application fee. Not after you apply, not after you are conditionally accepted, and certainly not after the deadline.

The reason is time. If the answer is no, you need enough runway to book a test, sit it and receive a result — which, now that everything in Bangladesh is computer-delivered, is realistically two to three weeks, plus the weeks of preparation you actually need. Ask in September, not in December.

What to write

Keep it to six lines. Admissions inboxes are enormous in application season and a long message is read last.

1. 1Subject line: the programme name, the intake, and the words English language requirement.
2. 2One sentence saying who you are and which programme and intake you are applying to.
3. 3One sentence stating the fact: your degree at *named university* was taught and examined in English, from *year* to *year*.
4. 4One sentence asking the actual question: whether the English language requirement can be met with this evidence rather than an IELTS score.
5. 5The attachment, named clearly — the MOI letter as a PDF, plus your transcript.
6. 6A closing line offering to sit the test if it is required, which signals that you are not trying to avoid it.

Do not ask "do I need IELTS?". Ask whether *this specific evidence* satisfies *this specific requirement*. A vague question gets the standard reply that points you back at the requirements page.

Attach, do not describe. And keep the file small and readable — the file size and scanning rules apply to email attachments as much as to portal uploads.

What the answers mean

• Yes, in writing. Save the email. Attach it to the application, and keep it for the visa file.
• A conditional offer with an English condition attached. This is not a waiver. It means you have been accepted subject to producing a score by a stated date, and that date is real.
• No. Book the test. This is the common answer at bachelor's level and it is not personal.
• Silence. Treat it as no after ten working days and one polite follow-up. An unanswered email has never satisfied an admission requirement, and waiting for one is how people arrive at January with no score.

The trap after the yes

A waiver from the admissions office is a decision about your admission. It is not a decision about your visa.

Several of the nine countries attach a language condition to the student residence permit in its own right, assessed by the embassy or the immigration service rather than the university. A file that satisfied Bologna can still be queried in Dhaka. So when the waiver arrives, do one more thing: read the language requirement on that country's own student visa page, and if there is one, check that your evidence meets it too. The country-by-country picture is in IELTS requirements by European country.

If the waiver route closes

You are not out of options, but be realistic about which ones are real: some universities in Cyprus, Malta and Bulgaria run their own online English test, which is cheaper and faster than IELTS; a few programmes conduct a short interview instead. Where each of these genuinely applies is set out in study in Europe without IELTS and the best of the nine without IELTS.

And if none of them applies to your shortlist, the answer is the ordinary one: book IELTS Academic, leave eight weeks for a possible retake, and get on with it.