Mandatory Third-Party Language Testing for Economic Class Applicants

Policy effect

Amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) to remove the option of providing alternative written evidence of language proficiency, making designated third-party standardized language test results mandatory at the time of application for Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and Business Immigrant applicants.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. REGULATIONS AMENDING THE IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION REGULATIONS AMENDMENTS 1. (1) Subsection 79(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following: Official languages 79. (1) A skilled worker 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 and which is to be considered their second official language in Canada and must have their proficiency in those languages assessed by an organization or institution designated under subsection (3). (2) The marginal note to subsection 79(2) of the Regulations is replaced by “Proficiency in English and French (24 points)”. 2. The portion of paragraph 87.1(2)(b) of the Regulations before subparagraph (i) is replaced by the following: (b) they have had their proficiency in the English or French language assessed by an organization or institution designated under subsection (4) and have obtained proficiencies for their abilities to speak, listen, read and write that correspond to benchmarks, as referred to in … delays, processing inefficiencies, and higher rates of refusal than would be the case if conclusive evidence had been submitted with the application. The evaluation of written submissions by visa officers, who are not language experts, has overall introduced subjectivity, unreliability and inefficiency into the assessment of immigrant applications. Description: The amendment removes references to the option to provide other written evidence from subsection 79(1) and paragraph 87.1(2)(b) of the Regulations. The amendment requires all FSW and CEC principal applicants to submit a valid test result … on the eligibility of applications, and results in faster processing of applications through expedited assessment at the visa office processing stage. Description The Regulations are amended as follows: Paragraph 79(1)(b) is repealed to remove the option to provide other evidence in writing; and All references to the option to provide other evidence in writing in paragraph 87.1(2)(b) are removed through the deletion of “or have provided other evidence in writing of their proficiency in either language” from the paragraph. Two technical amendments to the Regulations are as follows: The marginal …

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Other Canada changes operative in 2011

• 2011-06-16Exemption of Provincially Selected Entrepreneurs from Federal Post-Arrival Conditions
• 2011-06-16Temporary Resident Visa Exemption for Holders of UK British Subject Passports with Right of Abode
• 2011-06-30Designation of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC)
• 2011-06-30Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (SOR/2011-129) — Application Requirements and Representation for Consideration
• 2011-07-01Federal Skilled Worker Application Processing Intake Cap (MI-3)
• 2011-07-01Immigrant Investor Class Annual Intake Cap (MI-3)
• 2011-10-06Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
• 2011-11-05Federal Skilled Worker Program PhD Eligibility Stream
• 2011-11-05Temporary Pause on Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Applications
• 2011-11-17Barring Violent Offenders from Sponsoring Family Class Members
• 2011-12-01Ministerial Instructions regarding the Parent and Grandparent Super Visa