Additional points in Canada Immigration Express Entry to help increase Francophone immigration outside Quebec
The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced on October 27, 2020 that French-speaking and bilingual candidates (who know French and English both) will receive additional points under the Express Entry system for Canada Immigration.
The change announced on October 27, 2020 will see the current number of points increase from 15 to 25 for French-speaking candidates and from 30 to 50 for bilingual candidates. This comes after they initially awarded points in June 2017 to candidates with strong French language skills.
| Points Criteria | Points Until 27 Oct 2020 | Points From 27 Oct 2020 |
| Scored NCLC 7 or higher on all four French language skills and scored CLB 4 or lower in English (or didn’t take an English test) | 15 | 25 |
| Scored NCLC 7 or higher on all four French language skills and scored CLB 5 or higher on all four English skills | 30 | 50 |
The Express Entry is an online system used to manage applications for permanent residence from skilled workers.
This change will help deliver on the government’s commitment to reach the target of 4.4% French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Quebec by 2023. Awarding additional points to candidates with strong French language skills via Express Entry could increase French-speaking immigrant admissions to the 4.4% target by 2023.
Making progress towards reaching this target will be facilitated by an eventual easing of travel restrictions associated with the global pandemic.
Source: Canada Immigration & Citizenship, Government of Canada
Abdallah J