The present invention relates to a method for identifying a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 variant in a biological sample, characterised by: identifying the presence of target nucleotide sequences partially or fully spanning sequences corresponding to nucleotide positions 793-1837 of CRF01_AE genome, 2329-2731 of HIV-1 subtype B genome and 7918-8363 of HIV-1 subtype B genome, or sequences complementary thereto, in the biological sample; wherein the nucleotide positions are relative to a reference genome of HXB2; wherein the HIV-1 variant is selected from a group consisting of HIV-1 subtype B, CRF01_AE, CRF33_01B, CRF53_01B, CRF54_01B, and CRF58_01B; wherein the presence of at least one of the target nucleotide sequences indicates a genotype for identifying the HIV-1 variant.