TEF Canada, the French test you should take to immigrate to Canada

If you are looking into immigrating into Canada, you might be aware that one of the conditions to qualify is that you prove your English and/or French skills. Since it is a choice, some people select to pass the French test for Canadian immigration, also known as the TEF (Test d'Evaluation de Français) Canada.

Since Alliance Française Vancouver is the official center for the TCF Canada in Vancouver, in this article we will give you the necessary information concerning the TEF Canada exam so you can know what to expect when taking the French test to immigrate to Canada.

What can you expect at the TEF Canada immigration test?

The TEF Canada is an exam created by the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry from Paris and it is intended to measure your skills and knowledge with the overall French language, from basic to expert level of language.

Type of Evaluations

The type of evaluations that you must go through depends on the type of application you are doing. If you are immigrating for work, studies, or permanent residency applications, you must pass 4 tests:

Oral Comprehension: 40 min – 60 questions
Written comprehension : 60 min – 50 questions

Oral expression : 15 min – 2 subjects to discuss
Written expression : 60 min – 2 subjects to write about

If you are taking the test to ask for your Canadian citizenship, you must take two tests:

Oral comprehension : 40 min – 60 questions
Oral expression: 15 min – 2 subjects to discuss

Written comprehension

The objective of the written comprehension is to evaluate your capacity to read and understand written documents. This part consists of 4 sections of 50 questions. It is in a multiple-choice format with only one true and exact response. The duration of this part is 1 hour.

Oral comprehension

The objective of the oral comprehension is to measure your capability to understand spoken French by listening to recorded conversations.
This part consists of 4 sections with 60 questions. It is also presented as a multiple-choice format with one exact and true answer. This part can take up to 4o minutes to respond.

Oral expression

The objective of this section is to measure your capacity to express yourself orally in a conversation. It consists of two sections, which last 15 minutes in total. This evaluation will be done in person with the examinator and will consist of section a) obtaining information and b) debating to convince someone.

Written expression

The objective of this section is to measure your abilities to express yourself in a written form. It consists of two sections that last one hour. The first section consists of writing a continuation to a written article (80 words minimum), and the second section consists of expressing your point of view and justifying it (200 words minimum).

This test is done in a computer and will be graded by two separate and independent examinators.

These are just some of the things you can expect when you take the TEF Canada test in order to prove your French skills to immigrate to Canada.

Need extra preparation? Consider one of our French classes to improve your French and help you pass your TEF Canada exam.

Want to present your TEF Canada exam in Vancouver? Register today for one of our upcoming tests!

TEF Canada - Immigration Test