Why Language Proficiency is Important for Express Entry?

Express Entry Canada

If you want to immigrate to Canada through the Express Entry system, one of the most important factors that will be considered is your English and French speaking abilities. In Canada, the immigration department will assess you using the same standards regardless of your language of origin. You will be required to sit for a standard test offered by an objective third party. This rule has been put in place to ensure that your language skills are assessed in a fair and unbiased way.

The Rules Apply To All

It doesn’t matter if you have been speaking English all your life and it is your national language. You will still be required to take the test. Similarly, if you want to immigrate to Canada as a French speaking native, you will still be required to take the French test. All the programs under Express Entry Canada have the language test as a requirement. Once you take the third-party language test, you are required to include your results when filling out the Express Entry profile.

How To Take The Language Test

The IRCC has a list of agencies that have been approved to conduct the language tests. You can look for an approved agency and schedule your tests after paying the required costs. Once you’ve taken the test and gotten the results, you’ll need to include them in your Express Entry profile as well as in your application if you are invited to apply. Failure to include the test results in your application might lead to delays in processing. In fact, the IRCC will not process your application if it doesn’t contain your language test results. The original test may be requested by the IRCC at a later date so you need to keep it safely just in case.

Acceptable Language Tests

The IRCC accepts the following language tests:

  • English: CELPIP: Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program and IELTS: International English Language Testing System
  • French: TEF: Test d’évaluation de français

For your test results to be considered valid, they must not be more than 2 years old from the time you completed your Express Entry profile or applied for permanent residence. The Express Entry profile is only valid for a year (12 months). This means that your language test results may be invalid if you took the test more than a year before filling the Express Entry profile. Make plans to retake the test as soon as you can if it expires soon so that you can update your profile with the new results.

Getting The Help Of A Lawyer

An Express Entry lawyer Canada can help you to fill your profile and check all the issues such as the expiry of your language test results to make sure that you have a high chance of being placed in the pool and receiving an invitation to apply. Enlist the services of an immigration lawyer to avoid mistakes in your profile or permanent residence application that could be termed as misrepresentation and ban you from ever applying in future.

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