LANGUAGE SELECTION FACTORS

Foreign skilled workers and professionals are greatly needed in Canada.

The language skills factor is one of the six factors for which points are awarded by Canadian Immigration Officers in determining whether a Skilled Worker/Professional applicant will be eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

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Up to 28 points are awarded under the language skills factor, based upon the applicant's ability to speak one or both of Canada's two official languages. Up to 24 points can be awarded for comptenency in a first language (English or French). An additional four points may be awarded for a second language (English or French). The applicant may indicate either the English or French language as the first or second language for the purpose of being assessed under the language skills factor.

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All applicants must include Test d'Evaluation de Francais (TEF) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) results with their application in order for points in language to be guaranteed. No other method is approved to support language abilities.

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Through the chosen exam, applicants must prove that they meet or exceed a minimum threshold in all four language abilities (listening, reading, speaking, writing). This threshold is set at Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) as level 7, which is defined as "adequate intermediate proficiency". Applicants who score below this CLB threshold are not eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker program at this time.

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Points for Language Skills are awarded on the following basis: