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

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

Cancelling your IELTS test

If you cancel your IELTS test at least five weeks before the test date, you will receive a refund minus an administration fee of 25% of the test fee. 

If you cancel your IELTS test within five weeks of the test date, then no refunds will be issued, except: 

  • If you are eligible to a refund according to your withdrawal rights or 
  • If you missed the test date due to medical reasons.  

In Hungary you will be eligible for a 100% refund if you cancel your booking more than 7 days prior to the test, but within 14 days of booking the test (withdrawal).  

If a medical certificate confirming illness on the date of the test is provided within two calendar 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 25% of the test fee.  

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. 

Only medical certificates in Hungarian or English are accepted. Please note that we do not accept sick notes issued by family members. 

If we have not received your submitted cancellation request along with an upload of supporting documentation/evidence on the Test Taker Portal by the second calendar day after the test, you will be marked as absent and forfeit all claims.  

Please note that refunds can take two to three weeks to process. 

Requesting a test day transfer

If you need to change the date of your test from the date you originally booked, you can request a test date transfer at least 14 days before the test date. 

At least 14 days before the date of the test, transfer is possible, with a fee equal to 25% of the test fee. The new test date must be within 3 months of the original test date.  You can only transfer the same booking once. 

To transfer your test date, you need to download and fill in the IELTS test date transfer request form (find below in the download section), mark your two preferred new test dates on the form and send it to information@britishcouncil.hu. Requests submitted via post, phone or in-person, will not be considered. 

For the new test date, you cannot request a specific Speaking test time. 

The administration fee for exams after 1 December 2023 is 20715 HUF. 

The administration fee must be paid via bank transfer, the bank details are: 

  • Bank: Citibank Zrt. 
  • Bank account holder: British Council Hungary 
  • Bank account number: 10800007-77237006-00000000 
  • SWIFT/BIC code: CITIHUHX 
  • IBAN code: HU46 1080 0007 7723 7006 0000 0000Bank: Citibank Zrt. 
  • IN THE COMMENT SECTION PLEASE INCLUDE: The reference number related to the booking (format: A3-HU001-S-1234567, you can find it on the Test Taker Portal) and mentioning ‘transfer fee’  E.g.: A3-HU001-S-1234567 transfer fee 

Your request will be processed within 5 working days, counting from the first working day after the request has been received.  

Exceptional Circumstances and Special Consideration

On rare occasions, there may be instances where you are unable to attend your test or are disadvantaged on the test day owing to illness, injury, or another exceptional event outside your control and you no longer qualify for a standard cancellation, refund or transfer close to the test date. In these cases, including instances such as bereavement, civil unrest or domestic crisis, you may make an application to your test centre for special consideration due to exceptional circumstances. You can find more information on this process here

Under certain circumstances outside of test centre control, we may have to cancel your test and transfer it to a future date. These circumstances include, but may not be limited to, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster, civil unrest, industrial action, global pandemic or for reasons of force majeure.

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 – whichever you prefer.

If your test is cancelled or postponed due to other circumstances such as technical failure, venue or environmental factors, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of a refund or a transfer to a future test.