On April 14, 2021, the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC), announced an innovative pathway to permanent residence for over 90,000 essential workers and international graduates who are actively contributing to Canada’s economy. As part of the eligibility criteria for the above pathways, applicants must receive a language level proficiency of at least benchmark 5 for international students who graduated from a Canadian institution or benchmark 4 for essential workers (CLB or NCLC).

IRCC is aware that third-party language testing organizations had to reduce testing capacity to meet health guidelines and COVID-19 restrictions, however they are now adding extra testing sessions to meet increased demand.

That being said, applicants can use a previous language test from a designated organization, as long as the test result is less than 2 years old when the application is received. It’s important that language tests be from an agency approved by IRCC, and they will accept language test results received by applicants through email or from the testing organization’s online portal.