smilee_1

Today my application was returned to me. In a generic form, it said that I must either "provide language assessment by a designated institution..." or I must "provide other evidence in writing of your proficiency in those languages". This material should include - a written submission explaining your training in English or French; - an explanation of how you commonly use English or French.

I and my wife have worked and studied in US and have graduated with bachlor degrees in Engineering in USA. We had also submitted our transcripts and employer referral. This is so strange to ask us for documents proving proficiency in English. Please advise.

daisydoo

I know the English or French proficiency is fairly new. I applied last September and had to write a page about the nature of which I used the English language. I felt like joking and saying " my husband says I use it tooo much"
I just discussed my schools and colleges and how they had all been conducted in English and it was the only language I was able to use.

I am using immigration consultants and they had not been asked for anything like this before , they seemed satisfied with what i had written and the embassy have had my application nearly 12 months now so I presume its OK. Hope this helps.

shriver9

Its best that you take the IELTS exam ( for English ). Only the principal applicant needs to sit for it. You should have no problem getting max points for each of the 4 subjects.

The problem with providing documentation is that it will be difficult for CIC to acertain your ability in the listening and speaking sections, and if they deem you to be of moderate ability in those sections, you lose points.

Iain Mc

Sad news

Most odd. I hope we don't get caught out by this. As British citizens born and bred, we were informed by a CHC official at one of the Emigrate shows in the UK that any higher educational certificate from a UK institution (degree certificates in the case of myself and my partner) would be sufficient proof of linguistic ability. Hence we didn't include any additional evidence in our applications for language ability other than a short note explaining the above in our cover letters.

Cheers, Iain

Grah

We got called for an interview, turns out the French for necklace is the same as coal miner collier, The service in RN and the UK degree and the fact I didn't claim a point for French. We went there had a ten minute chat and that was it.

iaink

There is nothing odd or new about non native (ie born and breed) english speakers, even with a long history of US education being requested to do IELTS test (dont even think about the other route of providing evidence...its a minefield, you have to meet the requirement sof the 200 page document mentioned on CIC site, and you dont know how many points will be assesed as a result. IELTS is much more clear cut) This is the standard advice offered time and time again in the immigration forum here and on newsnet misc.immigration.canada.

It really pays to do your homework before applying and not to assume anything at any stage.

Not sure its fair, but I guess they have to draw a line somewhere when it comes to language assesment.

Iain

Toontje

Canadian Immigration (CI) needs an objective method that proves an applicant's ability in mastering English and/or French. They chose for the IELTS and TEFL tests (is it called TEFL for French???).
Anyone can claim he (or she) is good enough in English. But what is the worth of a US Highschool certificate compared to a Dutch atheneum certificate? We cannot expect CI knows all school certificates worldwide. Therefore, CI has chosen for the IELTS test, which is available all over the world, and every result gives CI an objective view on the applicants ability to write/speak/understand/read English.

Remember, the key word is objective