goodpikey

just wondering if there is anyone there who is currently immigrating or has immigrated that is a native english speaker but who has also claimed points for high or intermediate level french.
did you take the language proficiency test?

i did my degree in french and spanish and until this morning i thought i could just use my degree certificate and a short letter saying that i lived in france as part of my studies to claim points for french.

the thought of having to take a french test having not used my french for more than 3 years is a bit daunting, not too mention the cost of getting to a testing centre and pay forthe exam. (i think the test centres are only in england but i'm unsure. i'm in n.ireland.)

has anyone first hand experience of this?

many thanks

Davyjcrow

Hi

Myself and my wife are currently in the process of applying for PR and we both have degree level french. We were advised to take the TEF test and did so a couple of weeks ago, still waiting on the results.

It stated in the literature from CIC that they strongly advise that you submit test results from an approved body (ie TEF for French) with your application if you're not a native speaker - to be honest maybe they would accept a degree certificate with a letter instead, but we didn't know this for sure and so didn't want to take that risk.

The test isn't held that often, and does cost a bit as you say. There is a list of the centres on this link: http://www.rsscanadaimmigration.com/...test/u_tef.php

We did ours through the Alliance Francaise in Manchester and they were pretty good.

One tip if you do decide to take the test - it's well worth buying the accompanying book (by Sylvie Pons), we did get one second hand, sold it on again recently, and the format of the questions in the book are quite similar to the actual test.

The test ain't easy - we were in a similar situation to you not having used our French for a few years, and I think we would have scored intermediate on most of the competencies.. but will have to wait and see for another week!

Good luck.

goodpikey

hi davy,
yeah lucy was telling me about you guys doing the test.

i think i am going to just send off proof of french and see how it goes. i also worked in france for the best part of a year and can provide evidence. i don't really need the points as i have a job offer already (AEO) from a past employer.

if it was the difference between a pass and a fail on the points system i would definately do the test but i don't think it's worth the hassle/stress at this stage.


best of luck with the results. let me know how you guys do!!

kleinluka

anyone else find it slightly strange that CIC requires TEF results and when I applied for my Quebec Selection they simply accepted a letter from my french teacher at work as evidence? You'd think that with the whole french thing Quebec would be even more hardcore about proving your level of french than CIC... but nope.

Well good luck to you guys!

goodpikey

cheers for that kleinluka.
interesting to say the least.
i thought they would have been super stricy on you r french level.

singingringingtree

Same here, IO said only sure way it take test (easier for them to assess). OH has degree level French and is hoping for intermediate too. We get the impression that the higher level seems to be for people who have worked in a business enivonment or similar in French-speaking country and know quite a lot of jargon?

MarkSurrey

For a second language, moderate and high marks score the same number of points in any case, so there's no advantage to being amazing as opposed to merely great.

Jim Humphries

Kleinluka has a point but unless you are going to Quebec you should take the TEF to received the points. If you are destined to Quebec and are successful in selection you do not face the federal selection criteria, just criminal, security and medical.

kleinluka

as a former visa officer, can you shed some light on why it is this way though? why does quebec, where french is the only official language not require a TEF to prove french language skills and the CIC does, even for secondary languages? I was a bit surprised that Quebec didn't even call me for an interview to test my french level and just took my language class certificate at face value. oh and if you have a minute can you check the thread "Police Check Query", I had a question there that you can maybe answer for me Thanks a lot as always!

Jim Humphries

For many years Quebec has selected the immigrants who are destined to that province. They have their own criteria and procedures. The feds also have their own criteria that are applied to all applicants who have not been selected under a PNP. Limiting numbers is important as they have goals to meet and not exceed. Thus they insist upon TEF if points are claimed for knowledge of that language and the IELTS similarly for English. By the way, English is also an official language in Quebec as is French elsewhere in Canada.

kleinluka

Thank you Jim!

JAJ

Only at federal government level. French is the official language at provincial level in Quebec.

The only fully bilingual province is New Brunswick.

lucycrow

Hi Everyone

Both my husband and I have posted on this thread and got our TEF results on Friday. Both of us did French to degree level and we got mostly Level 4s but a couple of Level 5s so looks like degree level (2:1) with a bit of TEF exam paper practice gets you Intermediate/low Advanced.

As far as I can see, it was necessary for us to do the TEF as only spent 3 months at University in France so had no actual work experience out there but it does seem silly that you have to do TEF for Toronto and not Quebec!

Oh well the immigration process continues to amaze me but it was quite satisfying to do as well, if not a bit better than we expected, at the TEF!

Lucy (and Davy)

goodpikey

well done lucy and davy!!

lucycrow

Thanks! For once we did better than expected in a French test!