Minimum IELTS Score To Emigrate and Work in Canada

Canada is one of the most liveable and welcoming places in the world. It is rich with diversity, multicultural communities, and mild weather in all four seasons.

You have 5 ways in which you can emigrate, study or work in Canada. To ensure that you can communicate with ease, during your application for a VISA you will need to provide proof of your language skills in either English or French.

The five different pathways to getting Permanent Residency (PR) status in Canada are:

• Federal Skilled Worker Program
• Federal Skilled Trades Program
• Canadian Experience Class

Since it may take up to 6 months for IRCC to process your application, please ensure that your IELTS test results are valid for the entire duration. To prove your English proficiency, you should take the IELTS General Training test, which is the preferred test for immigration to Canada.

On January 18, Canada held an Express Entry draw, matching in size the record-breaking all-program draw from just seven days ago. All-program means that the draw considered candidates in all Express Entry programs: Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and Federal Skilled Trades (FST). In the January 18 Express Entry draw for immigration to Canada, 5,500 candidates were issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA).

The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score cut-off threshold for this draw was 490 points.

Note: When this draw was first published on the IRCC website, the CRS score cut-off was incorrectly listed as 507 points. IRCC has since updated the cut-off to 490 points.

Below, is the minimum IELTS score to get Canada PR.

Minimum IELTS Score Requirements

For permanent residency through Express Entry, a minimum language proficiency of CLB 7, or a minimum of 6.0 for each section of the IELTS test, is required.

For each program, there are different language proficiency requirements. Your language skills are assessed through 4 subcategories- listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The points you earn are awarded according to CLB Level (Canadian Language Benchmark).

Federal Skilled Worker Program

For those with English as your official language: If you get CLB 4 or lower, no points are awarded. If you get CLB 10 or higher, you will gain the maximum number of points, which is 34 or 32(if you are married).

CLB Level and IELTS Scores

CLB Level	Points per subcategory	Listening	Reading	Speaking	Writing
7	4	6.0-7.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
8	5	7.5	6.5	6.5	6.5
9	6	8.0	7.0	7.0	7.0
10 and above	6	8.5-9.0	8.0-9.0	7.5-9.0	7.5-9.0

If English is your second language, you get 4 points in total if you meet the following per-section requirements.

CLB Level	Total Points	Listening	Reading	Speaking	Writing
5 and above	4	5.0-9.0	4.0-9.0	5.0-9.0	4.0-9.0

Federal Skilled Trades Program

Here are the per section score requirements for each CLB Level.

CLB Level	Listening	Reading	Speaking	Writing
4	4.5	3.5	4.0	4.0
5	5.0	4.0	5.0	5.0
6	5.5	5.0	5.5	5.5
7	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
8	7.5	6.5	6.5	6.5
9	8.0	7.0	7.0	7.0
10 and above	8.5-9.0	8.0-9.0	7.5-9.0	7.5-9.0

Canadian Experience Class

For NOC A jobs, the minimum language requirement are higher and is CLB 7. For NOC B jobs, the requirement is CLB 5. Here are the CLB levels that correspond to per-section IELTS scores.

NOC	CLB Level	Listening	Reading	Speaking	Writing
A	10 and above	8.5-9.0	8.0-9.0	7.5-9.0	7.5-9.0
A	9	8.0	7.0	7.0	7.0
A	8	7.5	6.5	6.5	6.5
A	7	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
B	6	5.5	5.0	5.5	5.5
B	5	5.0	4.0	5.0	5.0

Apart from language proficiency, you will be assessed by other criteria such as level of education, age, and work experience. To gain permanent residency through Canada Express Entry, the minimum points is around 439, which was the cutoff on 19th December 2018.

However, to work in Canada, IELTS score requirements overall and for each band score may differ. For example, to be a lawyer, a minimum score of 7.0 in each section of the IELTS is required. To be a nurse, you need a minimum overall score of 6.5 and 7.0 for Speaking.