Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) revealed the criteria it uses to decide whether to license a language testing business on August 11.
To ensure that candidates meet the appropriate level of English or French language competence, IRCC requires language exams for economic class permanent residence applications as well as Student Direct Stream (SDS) applicants.
These linguistic criteria are in place to ensure that a candidate is well-positioned to integrate in Canada. Furthermore, when it comes to economic class candidates, a language test score can effect your overall human capital score, which is used to rank candidates in a variety of federal and provincial pathways. The highest-ranking prospects, for example, are asked to apply for permanent residency under the federal Express Entry system.
The disclosure of the requirements language testing organizations must achieve to acquire IRCC certification is a significant development because IRCC previously admitted that no such criteria existed, making it difficult to give additional language exams to economic class and SDS applicants. A language testing organization did not know which conditions it needed to meet to be approved by IRCC in the absence of such criteria.
IRCC’s criteria to receive designation as a language testing organization
The IRCC website outlines the four primary criteria as follows:
Expertise: A test must be appropriate for IRCC objectives by measuring competency in the four skill areas (reading, writing, oral comprehension/listening, and speaking) in functional English or French at all levels of proficiency ranging from basic to high proficiency.
Reliability: A test’s results must be consistent among candidates with similar language proficiency. The different versions of an exam must be written at the same level of difficulty each time.
Integrity/security: A designated testing organization must meet security standards in terms of arranging test venues, registering candidates, writing and marking tests, sending out results, and so on. For a test to be approved, adequate anti-fraud systems must be in place.
Availability: A certified testing organization for IRCC purposes should be able to make tests available to applicants in all sections of Canada and overseas where third-party language testing is in high demand.
Which economic class immigration exams are now accepted by IRCC?
The IRCC now approves five language testing agencies in total:
English
French
TEF Canada: French Evaluation Test
TCF Canada: French language proficiency test
Which tests are approved by IRCC for the SDS?
On August 10, IRCC began accepting four newly approved English language tests for the SDS:
- CELPIP General
- Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL)
- Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic
- Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet Based test (TOEFL iBT)
In addition, the following English language tests are also accepted by IRCC for the SDS:
- IELTS General Training
- IELTS Academic
