What's a CLB?

In most cases, applicants for permanent residence in Canada need to prove their language skills in English or French. To do so, they must take an approved language test. There are five language tests accepted for immigration to Canada; three for English and two for French:

•  Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP)

•  International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

•  Pearson Test of English (PTE) 

•  Test de connaissance du français (TCF)

•  Test d’évaluation de français (TEF)

IRCC will use the test results as proof of an applicant's language skills. In order to be valid, test results must be less than two years old at the time of application for permanent residence. There are provisions if a candidate cannot complete one or more sections of the language test because of a disability.

The Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) (or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadien (NCLC) for French) was created to assess language skills of permanent residence candidates. A candidate's CLB score can be different for each of the four abilities that are evaluated during the test:

• writing
• reading
• listening
• speaking

The minimum language requirements depend on the immigration program that the applicant has chosen as their pathway to permanent residence in Canada. Oftentimes, the requirements are higher for programs that require a higher-skilled job offer. For example, candidates for Express Entry under the Canadian Experience Class require a minimum of CLB 7 for work experience in NOC TEER 0 or 1, and only CLB 5 if the majority of the candidate's qualifying work experience is in TEER 2 or 3. For the Federal Skilled Trades Program, different CLB levels are required for the four abilites, CLB 5 for speaking and listening but only CLB 4 for reading and writing. See the following tables for your language level in CLB/NCLC based on your test results:

CELPIP-General

CLB Level	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
10 and above	10-12	10-12	10-12	10-12
9	9	9	9	9
8	8	8	8	8
7	7	7	7	7
6	6	6	6	6
5	5	5	5	5
4	4	4	4	4

IELTS General Training

CLB Level	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
10 and above	8.0-9.0	7.5-9.0	8.5-9.0	7.5-9.0
9	7.0	7.0	8.0	7.0
8	6.5	6.5	7.5	6.5
7	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
6	5.0	5.5	5.5	5.5
5	4.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
4	3.5	4.0	4.5	4.0

PTE Core

CLB Level	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
10 and above	88+	90+	89+	89+
9	78-87	88-89	82-88	84-88
8	69-77	79-87	71-81	76-83
7	60-68	69-78	60-70	68-75
6	51-59	60-68	50-59	59-67
5	42-50	51-59	39-49	51-58
4	24-32	32-40	18-27	34-41

TCF

NCLC Level	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
10 and above	549-699	16-20	549-699	16-20
9	524-548	14-15	523-548	14-15
8	499-523	12-13	503-522	12-13
7	453-498	10-11	458-502	10-11
6	406-452	7-9	398-457	7-9
5	375-405	6	369-397	6
4	342-374	4-5	331-368	4-5

TEF

NCLC Level	Reading	Writing	Listening	Speaking
10	546-699	558-699	546-699	556-699
9	503-545	512-557	503-545	518-555
8	462-502	472-511	462-502	494-517
7	434-461	428-471	434-461	456-493
6	393-433	379-427	393-433	422-455
5	352-392	330-378	352-392	387-421
4	306-351	268-329	306-351	328-386

If you are unsure what your test results mean or which programs you are eligible for, book your initial consultation with us today!