An international English test, run by educators in Australia and the UK, has been approved for use in the UK immigration system.

The International English Testing System (IELTS) has now been granted approval for use in the UK's new points based immigration system, according to a release from British Council here on Thursday. From the end of February, 2008, the UK home office has been implementing a new points-based immigration system for all non-EU nationals.

The new system group potential immigrants into five tiers and the recent approval of IELTS certificates is for tier one - highly-skilled migrants such as doctors, scientists or entrepreneurs, which will replace the existing highly skilled migrant programme.

As part of the application process, applications are required to provide evidence of their English language abilities. The IELTS test is a key element of the British Council's English Language work overseas.

It attracted over 9,38,000 candidates in 2007 and the entries have almost doubled in the last three years, driven by University entrance requirements, new immigration policies and professional recognition throughout the English-speaking world, the council said. "The British Council now offer IELTS in approximately 400 locations in 101 countries," said Martin Davidson, CEO of the British Council.

UK's approval of IELTS certificates is for tier-I, highly-skilled migrants such as doctors, scientists or entrepreneurs, which will replace the existing highly skilled migrant programme.