Nº 03 French draws

From IRCC's official rounds of invitations · synced hourly on weekdays · last sync Sep 15, 2026, 18:10 UTC

The red line is the CRS cutoff of the last 24 French-language rounds; the grey dashed line is the CEC rounds of the same period. Hover a point (or tap it on a phone) to read that round's date, cutoff and invitations.

French-language proficiency is one of the Express Entry category-based draws. It invites only candidates with NCLC 7 or higher in all four French abilities. Below are the CRS cutoffs and invitation counts of every French-language round, side by side with the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) rounds of the same period, so you can see how much lower the French cutoff runs. Just sat TCF Canada and want to know where you stand? Use the score calculator.

Every French-language round

What score is NCLC 7?

On TCF Canada you need listening ≥ 458, reading ≥ 453, speaking ≥ 10 and writing ≥ 10, all four of them. The full NCLC 4 to 10 bands are in the TCF Canada score chart.

How the French CRS bonus works

With NCLC 7 or higher in all four French abilities, Express Entry adds French points on top of the core score: 50 points if your English is CLB 5 or higher in all four abilities, and 25 points if your English is CLB 4 or lower or you have no English test. If any French ability is below NCLC 7, there is no bonus. The rules are explained in how TCF Canada adds Express Entry points and on IRCC's French-speaking Express Entry page ↗.

First the test result, then the draw

A French-language draw needs a valid TCF Canada or TEF Canada result, and TCF Canada seats are often booked out the moment a centre releases them. TCF Seat Monitor watches the official booking pages of six cities 24/7 and emails you when a seat opens.

Draw data: IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations ↗. Score bands: IRCC language test equivalency charts ↗. This page summarizes public information; IRCC's own publications prevail.