Language evaluation exams with a view to relocating to Québec or Ontario
June 21, 2018 4:15 PM Subscribe
Hi. I've been considering relocating to Québec for some time, and was wondering whether or not taking (and passing, obviously) the Test for Evaluating French for Access to Québec (TEFAQ) would likely render such a move a mere formality, or if to the contrary there's still a very real chance I would be denied?
I have dual US and French citizenship, am fully bilingual and have experience working as a bilingual French translator/editor. However, when I went on the Immigration Québec website, they had a questionnaire whose purpose is to assess one's chances of getting the green light to move there, and I was informed my odds would not be good. Have any of you taken the TEFAQ, and/or relocated to Québec, and if so what was that experience like? If any of you have ever moved to a predominantly English-speaking Canadian province, I'm interested in that as well, and would be curious to know if that involved taking the CELPIP (Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) in order to boost your odds? Thanks in advance.
I have dual US and French citizenship, am fully bilingual and have experience working as a bilingual French translator/editor. However, when I went on the Immigration Québec website, they had a questionnaire whose purpose is to assess one's chances of getting the green light to move there, and I was informed my odds would not be good. Have any of you taken the TEFAQ, and/or relocated to Québec, and if so what was that experience like? If any of you have ever moved to a predominantly English-speaking Canadian province, I'm interested in that as well, and would be curious to know if that involved taking the CELPIP (Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) in order to boost your odds? Thanks in advance.
Short answer: a good/excellent score on the TEFAQ is absolutely not a guarantee you will receive permanent residency in Québec.
Long answer: While Express Entry, which StrikeTheViol linked to, is the system used for skilled workers to immigrate permanently to Canada (the rest of this answer assumes you are hoping to immigrate under this method and not via family reunification, independent investor, asylum or any other method), it is not the system used to evaluate immigrants to the province of Québec. (In other words, Express Entry is the system used to evaluate potential skilled immigrants for all of Canada except Québec).
"Under Canadian law, Quebec can select its own immigrants to settle in the province." This in practice means that Immigration Québec need to issue you a Certificat de sélection du Québec in order to immigrate to Québec as a skilled worker, and the (current) criteria used are different than those of Express Entry. Notably, French proficiency is weighed much more heavily than English proficiency, unlike the federal Express Entry system which weighs English and French abilities equally.
I am assuming you filled out the Preliminary Evaluation for Immigration provided by Québec -- if not, you should try this and see where you score.
However, in either case (Immigration Québec's criteria for immigration to Québec, or Express Entry for immigration to the rest of Canada) French and/or English proficiency is only one of the criteria that they evaluate you on. Age, education and work experience are other major factors. The first in particular can be ruthless -- the Express Entry system starts systematically deducting points as soon as you hit 30 years old, and Québec's system starts deducting at age 36.
Note that Québec is only accepting applications under the current system until August 15, 2018 -- it's implied that Québec will be implementing a new system soon (unofficial link), but details are scant on what's going to happen after this August.
Finally, on the English side it's my understanding that absolutely anyone who is trying to prove proficiency in English, even those who are citizens of Anglophone nations, needs to take an English-language test, and I think IELTS is the one to go for here.
posted by andrewesque at 6:52 PM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
Long answer: While Express Entry, which StrikeTheViol linked to, is the system used for skilled workers to immigrate permanently to Canada (the rest of this answer assumes you are hoping to immigrate under this method and not via family reunification, independent investor, asylum or any other method), it is not the system used to evaluate immigrants to the province of Québec. (In other words, Express Entry is the system used to evaluate potential skilled immigrants for all of Canada except Québec).
"Under Canadian law, Quebec can select its own immigrants to settle in the province." This in practice means that Immigration Québec need to issue you a Certificat de sélection du Québec in order to immigrate to Québec as a skilled worker, and the (current) criteria used are different than those of Express Entry. Notably, French proficiency is weighed much more heavily than English proficiency, unlike the federal Express Entry system which weighs English and French abilities equally.
I am assuming you filled out the Preliminary Evaluation for Immigration provided by Québec -- if not, you should try this and see where you score.
However, in either case (Immigration Québec's criteria for immigration to Québec, or Express Entry for immigration to the rest of Canada) French and/or English proficiency is only one of the criteria that they evaluate you on. Age, education and work experience are other major factors. The first in particular can be ruthless -- the Express Entry system starts systematically deducting points as soon as you hit 30 years old, and Québec's system starts deducting at age 36.
Note that Québec is only accepting applications under the current system until August 15, 2018 -- it's implied that Québec will be implementing a new system soon (unofficial link), but details are scant on what's going to happen after this August.
Finally, on the English side it's my understanding that absolutely anyone who is trying to prove proficiency in English, even those who are citizens of Anglophone nations, needs to take an English-language test, and I think IELTS is the one to go for here.
posted by andrewesque at 6:52 PM on June 21, 2018 [3 favorites]
I went through the Express Entry process and moved to Ontario this year. As mentioned above, there are more factors than language fluency in getting accepted. It is a points based system, with education, age, work experience and language all factored in. One of the big things is age. After 45, you get no points for this.
I have a masters degree, over 6 years of qualifying work experience and top language test results (English only). I took IELTS because that was the main one available in Australia. I applied when I was 37 and it took ~9 months before I received an invitation to apply and based on the points now, I wouldn't get one.
As mentioned above, the language test is a requirement regardless of your nationality, although only one of French or English are required. You can get additional points for proficiency in both.
Fluency in both languages definitely helps, but there's bigger bumps in points for Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer. You could also look into eligibility for provincial sponsorship.
I found the Canada Visa forums pretty useful for negotiating the process.
posted by Kris10_b at 5:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have a masters degree, over 6 years of qualifying work experience and top language test results (English only). I took IELTS because that was the main one available in Australia. I applied when I was 37 and it took ~9 months before I received an invitation to apply and based on the points now, I wouldn't get one.
As mentioned above, the language test is a requirement regardless of your nationality, although only one of French or English are required. You can get additional points for proficiency in both.
Fluency in both languages definitely helps, but there's bigger bumps in points for Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer. You could also look into eligibility for provincial sponsorship.
I found the Canada Visa forums pretty useful for negotiating the process.
posted by Kris10_b at 5:33 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
When I emigrated to Quebec in 2009, it was like operating in two different systems: the Canadian government one and the Quebec government one. It was difficult as my native tongue is English and where I lived was absolutely not bilingual, but with my fluent partner I muddled through. We relocated to Ontario five years later, so my when I ended up taking my citizenship exam this past January, I did not have to take a language proficiency test as I could prove through documents I spoke at least one of Canada's two languages fluently.
Please sure to do all your due diligence, even engaging an immigration lawyer if you can, to make sure that you can safely and legally come up here. I definitely recommend the Canada Visa forums as I had a lot of questions about my permanent resident application when I first applied for it.
posted by Kitteh at 8:45 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Please sure to do all your due diligence, even engaging an immigration lawyer if you can, to make sure that you can safely and legally come up here. I definitely recommend the Canada Visa forums as I had a lot of questions about my permanent resident application when I first applied for it.
posted by Kitteh at 8:45 AM on June 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: My sincere thanks to all of you for your feedback. I'll be checking out each of those links. Unfortunately, I turn 47 later this year, which appears to be a strike against me. But I'm not going to let that dissuade me from pursuing my objective of relocating up there. Thank you so much once again.
posted by DavidfromBA at 12:34 PM on June 22, 2018
posted by DavidfromBA at 12:34 PM on June 22, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
An above average score improves your odds slightly, but many factors are weighted: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/become-candidate/criteria-comprehensive-ranking-system.html
posted by StrikeTheViol at 5:20 PM on June 21, 2018 [4 favorites]