Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations

Marginal note:Official languages

• 102.3 (1) A foreign national must specify in their application for a permanent resident visa which language — English or French — is to be considered their first official language in Canada.They must have their proficiency in that language evaluated by an organization or institution designated under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Proficiency in second language

  (2) If the foreign national wishes to claim points for proficiency in their second official language they must, with the application for a permanent resident visa, submit the results of an evaluation — which must be less than two years old on the date on which their application is made — of their proficiency by an organization or institution designated under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Proficiency in English and French (24 points)

  (3) Points for proficiency in the official languages of Canada shall be awarded up to a maximum of 24 points based on the benchmarks referred to in the Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens, as follows:

  • (a) for high proficiency

    • (i) in the first official language, 4 points for each language skill area if the foreign national’s proficiency corresponds to a benchmark of 8 or higher, and

    • (ii) in the second official language, 2 points for each language skill area if the foreign national’s proficiency corresponds to a benchmark of 8 or higher;

  • (b) for moderate proficiency

    • (i) in the first official language, 2 points for each language skill area if the foreign national’s proficiency corresponds to a benchmark of 6 or 7, and

    • (ii) in the second official language, 2 points for each language skill area if the foreign national’s proficiency corresponds to a benchmark of 6 or 7;

  • (c) for basic proficiency in either official language, 1 point for each language skill area, up to a maximum of 2 points, if the foreign national’s proficiency corresponds to a benchmark of 4 or 5; and

  • (d) for no proficiency in either official language, 0 points if the foreign national’s proficiency corresponds to a benchmark of 3 or lower.

• Marginal note:Designation for evaluating language proficiency

  (4) The Minister may designate, for any period specified by the Minister, any organization or institution to be responsible for evaluating language proficiency if the organization or institution has expertise in evaluating language proficiency and if the organization or institution has provided a correlation of its evaluation results to the benchmarks set out in the Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens.

• Marginal note:Public notice

  (5) The Minister shall make available to the public a list of the designated organizations or institutions.

• Definition service agreement

  (6) For the purposes of subsection (7), service agreement means an agreement concluded between the Government of Canada and an organization or institution for the purpose of having the organization or institution supply the service of evaluating the language proficiency of foreign nationals.

• Marginal note:Revocation of designation

  (7) The Minister may revoke a designation if

  • (a) the organization or institution no longer meets the criteria set out in subsection (4);

  • (b) the organization or institution submitted false, misleading or inaccurate information or has contravened any provision of federal or provincial legislation relevant to the service provided by the organization or institution; or

  • (c) either the government of Canada or the organization or institution has terminated the service agreement.

• Marginal note:Conclusive evidence

  (8) The results of an evaluation of a foreign national’s language proficiency by a designated organization or institution and the correlation of those results with the benchmarks under subsection (4) are conclusive evidence of the foreign national’s proficiency in the official languages of Canada for the purposes of subsection (1).