How having great English or French helps you immigrate to Canada

Many people know Canada is a bilingual country, with the nation’s official languages being English and French, respectively. While one language tends to be spoken more than the other depending on the region, it is extremely useful to be able to speak both, and some jobs even require their employees to be bilingual.  

Language proficiency counts a lot when it helps some to immigrate to Canada. And this is especially true of the Express Entry process. Language skills are one of the many factors taken into account when adding points to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of an Express Entry profile. High language skills in either English or French can actually earn a candidate up to 290 points for their CRS score. And since the average Express Entry draw requires a CRS score of around 460 points, a high score in language criteria can make up more than half of the candidate’s overall score. 

Canada marks a potential immigration candidate’s language proficiency through the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) test. The minimum score varies depending on the immigration program. But there are some programs that require scores of only a CLB level of 4. Although for most student programs, the minimum tends to be a CLB level of 7. What’s more, the government of Canada requires a CLB level to obtain Canadian citizenship. Overall, a higher CLB score means an increased chance at immigration for candidates. 

Along with how it helps obtains Canadian citizenship, having good language skills also helps immigration candidates thrive while living in Canada. Immigrants with high proficiency in either English or French are likely to get jobs with a high salary. Language proficiency is important and helpful to life in Canada. This makes language a worthwhile skill to develop and improve, either before one move to Canada or while they are living there.