French-speaking draw: why your TCF score counts double
Draws targeting French-speaking candidates are multiplying — and a good language score can be enough to get the invitation. Here is how to position yourself.
Since 2023, Canada has regularly held category-based draws in the Express Entry system — and French-language proficiency is one of those categories. In practice: if your profile shows a good level of French, you can be invited in a draw reserved for French speakers, often with a much lower points threshold. From January to mid-September 2026, the minimum score in French-language draws ranged from 382 to 420 points, against 467 to 477 in healthcare, trades and transport draws, and 507 to 523 in Canadian Experience Class draws. As for general draws, open to every candidate in the pool, none has been held since April 2024.
Why does your French score weigh so much?
First, the points. A strong performance in the TCF Canada or TEF Canada (NCLC level 7 or higher in all four abilities) earns you, on top of the base language points, 25 additional points in the CRS ranking, or 50 points if you also score at least CLB 5 in all four abilities on an English test. Few actions let you gain so many points so quickly.
Then there is access to targeted draws. In a French-speaking draw, you are no longer competing with the whole pool: only with other French-speaking candidates. The observed thresholds are regularly lower — this is the door many of our clients used.
How to position yourself now
1. Assess your real level. A consultation or a mock test tells you whether you can aim for NCLC 7 directly or whether you need preparation first. If you have already sat the test, your marks convert into NCLC levels here: /en/check-list.html#tcf
2. Prepare the test seriously. Speaking is the ability that makes the difference — that is where our candidates get their best scores, up to 19/20. Our intensive preparation (3 sessions a week, exam simulations, oral coaching) is built for it.
3. Create your Express Entry profile without waiting. You cannot be invited if you are not in the pool. Once the language score is in hand, every week counts.
The right reflex: get your profile assessed before spending a single franc on a test. You will know exactly where you stand, what French can earn you, and the shortest path to the invitation. The first assessment is free — tell us about your project. You can ask for it online, in a few minutes: /en/evaluation.html
And for the TCF itself: the Prépa TCF topics come up again at the exam. Working through all of them, in full, maximises your chances of facing, on test day, a topic you have already practised: /prepa-tcf.html