The IRCC recently approved a new language test for economic class immigration applicants.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) anticipates that the test will begin in early to mid-2023.

Currently, there are only four designated organizations: IELTS and CELPIP for English, and TEF and TCF for French.

The IRCC says that despite some initial difficulties during the pandemic, the number of designated testing organizations continues to meet demand. Nevertheless,

the growing number of language test organizations seeking status is a reason for the IRCC to improve the situation.

The announcement says the IRCC will be reviewing potential proposals over the next 12 months. If implemented, these changes are expected to result in even more organizations being interested in seeking status.

Departmental roles and responsibilities related to language testing are currently not clearly defined and have an overlapping policy and operational implications.

The language testing team at the IRCC, part of the Immigration Division, must balance the work of maintaining the file and promoting the new policy priorities.

The IRCC is currently reviewing the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) because some are concerned that it is too granular for testing purposes compared to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Instead of a score on a scale of one to seven, CEFR examiners receive a score on an alphanumeric scale: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2.