Pearson VUE halts exams for Iran residents — ADC written affected

Pearson VUE published a suspension notice stating that from 12:00 a.m. EDT on 8 September 2026, following the U.S. Treasury OFAC suspension of General License G, it is "unable to schedule or deliver exams for candidates who are residents of Iran unless they can provide proof of primary residency outside of Iran," until further notice. Exams already scheduled for impacted candidates will be cancelled, the notice says. Pearson's bar is residency-based: it follows the candidate, and travelling outside Iran does not restore access unless primary residency outside the country can be shown.

Pearson's own ADC examination page, last updated 2 September 2026, carries a banner reading "Important notice for candidates who are residents of Iran" linked to the suspension notice — placing the ADC written examination inside the bar directly rather than by inference from the general notice. Booking for that examination runs through Pearson: candidates authorised by the ADC receive an Authorisation to Test email, then have roughly two weeks to book both consecutive days at a single venue, with limited-capacity venues allocated first come, first served. For Iran-based candidates those venues have meant cities such as Dubai and Istanbul, and the first sitting after the cut-off was 16 to 17 September 2026. PTE Academic, a Pearson test on Ahpra's accepted English list, falls under the same notice; it has not operated inside Iran, and from 8 September it is closed to Iran residents at overseas centres as well. The ADAT, delivered at Pearson test centres in North America, is likewise affected. The ADC practical examination is administered by the ADC in Australia and is not part of Pearson's network.

ETS's own Iran testing page, read on 3 October 2026, states that Iranian nationality alone does not prevent testing outside Iran, but that ETS is unable to process registrations or payments associated with individuals ordinarily resident in Iran, including for a test appointment outside the country, and that at-home testing is unavailable to them even while they are temporarily abroad. The same page states that from 9 September 2026 ETS cannot process new TOEFL or GRE score-report requests for test takers residing in Iran. Neither Pearson nor ETS has given a timeline; OFAC's announcement says providers may apply for specific authorization to continue previously licensed activities. Pearson's ADC page sets out a procedure for residents of Syria, who are told to contact the ADC before applying, but publishes no equivalent instruction for residents of Iran, and neither Pearson nor the ADC has said what becomes of candidates already authorised to sit the September examination.

Update, 3 October 2026: ETS's own Iran testing page now states that people ordinarily resident in Iran cannot register for TOEFL or GRE even at centres abroad; the earlier contrast with Pearson's rule has been removed.