Since Canada is a bilingual country with English and French as two official languages, almost every category of Immigration to Canada requires the applicants to prove their language skills for communicating in English and/or French in order to assist the applicant in finding employment and generally assisting to enjoy a smooth transition into Canadian life.
Minimum Language Proficiency Threshold
All prospective applicants to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) should first determine whether they meet the new minimum language threshold: Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 in all four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). To prove language proficiency, a prospective applicant must take a third-party language test from an organization designated by the Minister and submit their test report along with their application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CICC).
Language test results will be accepted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CICC) for 2 years from the date that they were issued by the designated language testing organization. This includes:
- Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP),
- International English Language Testing System (IELTS),
- Test d'évaluation de français (TEF).
English - International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
A Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applicant must score at least 6.0 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) General Training test in each of the four skills to meet the minimum language threshold of Canadian Language Benchmark 7 (CLB 7).
(listening -8.0, speaking -7.0, reading - 7.0, and writing -7.0).
NOTE
A spouse’s International English Language Testing System (IELTS) resultadds 5 points to the initial application (listening – 4.5, speaking – 4.0, reading – 3.5, and writing – 4.0)
French - Test d'évaluation de français (TEF)
A Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applicant must score at least 206 in reading, 248 in listening, and 309 in both speaking and writing on the Test d'évaluation de français (TEF) to meet the minimum language threshold of Niveau de compétence linguistique canadien 7 (NCLC 7).
NOTE
A spouse’s Test d'évaluation de français (TEF) resultadds 5 points on any submission. (listening – 4.5, speaking – 4.0, reading – 3.5, and writing – 4.0)
