The guidelines for evaluating and granting approval to language testing institutions have been issued by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). These standards are used to appraise the language skills of individuals seeking economic class permanent residency and those who are applying through the Student Direct Stream (SDS), guaranteeing their attainment of the required benchmarks in English or French language proficiency.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has published directives detailing the process of assessing and authorizing language testing organizations. These criteria are employed to evaluate the linguistic abilities of individuals pursuing permanent residency and those opting for the Student Direct Stream (SDS) application route, ensuring their achievement of the necessary English or French language competency standards.
On IRCC’s website, the primary standards are outlined through the following four key aspects.
Expertise: the test should be appropriate for the IRCC’s goals, measuring proficiency at all competency levels—from beginner to advanced—in the four core language abilities which are, reading, writing, listening, and speaking —in either practical English or French.
Reliability: a test should generate reliably consistent scores for individuals possessing comparable language proficiency. Each administration of the test, regardless of version, should maintain a consistent level of difficulty.
Integrity/security: an assigned testing organization needs to adhere to security criteria concerning various operational aspects such as arranging test venues, candidate enrollment, test creation and evaluation, result dissemination, etc. Effective anti-fraud measures must be established for a test to gain authorization.
Availability: a designated testing agency for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) purposes should be able to make tests available to applicants in all parts of Canada and abroad where there is sufficient demand for third-party language testing.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has currently approved 4 language testing organizations in total. They are:
To prove English language proficiency:
Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) refers to the official standard in Canada for assessing and evaluating an individual’s English language skills before migration to Canada. CLB is a 12-point scale for English language proficiency in listening, reading, writing, and speaking that is separated into three levels of proficiency: basic (1-4), intermediate (5-8), and advanced (9-12).
Though each of these language proficiency tests has a different scoring approach, CLB serves as a common benchmark for both IELTS and CELPIP. The higher the CLB score, the more points are awarded in assessments and ranking systems. Whether an individual chooses to take CELPIP or IELTS, the focus should be on obtaining strong CLB (Canadian Language Benchmark) scores, which evaluate English language ability based on daily life in an English-speaking country. CLB is a government-approved standard for determining how language scores translate to Canadian immigration.
Contact us today to know if you qualify to migrate to Canada. Check out Owlspriority Immigration’s Canada Settlement Resources to learn about finding employment in Canada, making your initial days stress-free, etc.
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