IELTS score for Canada PR: CLB levels and CRS points

Express Entry is Canada’s online system for skilled workers who want permanent residence (PR). It is run by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), the government’s immigration department. IRCC turns your IELTS bands into CLB levels. CLB means Canadian Language Benchmarks, Canada’s scale of English levels.

The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW) is for skilled workers with work experience outside Canada. It needs CLB 7 in all four skills. The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) is for skilled workers with work experience in Canada.

For the CEC, the level depends on your job’s TEER category. Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) sorts every job into a TEER category from 0 to 5. TEER stands for the training, education, experience and responsibilities a job needs.

A TEER 0 job is a management job, and a TEER 1 job usually needs a university degree. Both need CLB 7. A TEER 2 or 3 job usually needs a college diploma or apprenticeship training, and it needs CLB 5. To find your job’s TEER, look up your job title on IRCC’s Find your NOC page.

The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FST) is for skilled workers qualified in a trade, for example in construction, transportation or manufacturing. It needs CLB 5 in Speaking and Listening and CLB 4 in Reading and Writing.

Use the table below to turn each CLB level into IELTS General Training bands, or enter your bands in the calculator above.

Every programme has more rules than English. For all of them, see our IELTS for Canada page, and compare other countries in IELTS requirements by country.

Each number is the lowest IELTS General Training band for that CLB level in that skill. A band between two rows counts as the lower row. CLB 10 covers every band from its row up to 9.0.

The same band can be a different CLB level in different skills. For example, 7.0 in Reading is CLB 9, but 7.0 in Listening is only CLB 7. Your CLB level is checked in each skill, so one weak skill can hold back your whole result.

Express Entry ranks everyone in its pool, the group of people whose profiles are waiting for an invitation, with the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS is a points score that decides who gets invited to apply for PR.

The figures here are approximate language points for a single applicant (or with a spouse or partner), from the official CRS criteria. Canada has two official languages, English and French. These figures count English, from your IELTS result, as your first official language. They are not your full CRS score, which also counts things like age, education and work experience.

At CLB 7 in every skill, a single applicant gets about 17 points per skill, so 68 in total. At CLB 9, it is 31 per skill, so 124. That is 56 more points from language alone. With a spouse or partner, the totals are 64 and 116.

CRS language points keep rising up to CLB 10 (Listening 8.5, Reading 8.0, Writing 7.5 and Speaking 7.5): 34 per skill, or 136 in total for a single applicant. The Federal Skilled Worker Program also has its own points grid, a score out of 100 that decides whether you qualify at all. Its language points stop rising at CLB 9.

The chart shows the approximate language points for one skill at each CLB level, for a single applicant. Add the points for your four skills to get your language total.

For Express Entry, only IELTS General Training counts. IRCC’s Express Entry page says: “You must take the IELTS General Training option.” An IELTS Academic result will not be accepted, even with high bands.

Studying is different. IELTS says IELTS Academic is likely the right test if you plan to study in a country where English is spoken. Each college or university sets its own IELTS entry score. So if you plan to study in Canada first and apply for PR later, you may need both tests at different times.

General Training Reading is a different test from Academic Reading, so it needs a different number of correct answers for each band. See IELTS band scores explained for both score charts.

No. One Skill Retake lets you retake one part of a computer-delivered IELTS test, such as Listening, within 60 days. But IRCC says: “We don’t accept IELTS One Skill Retake for Express Entry.”

IRCC’s language requirements page names only one programme that accepts it for immigration, the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (a pilot is a trial programme). So if one skill is below your target for Express Entry, plan to take the full General Training test again.

Your result must be less than 2 years old when you create your Express Entry profile and when you apply for permanent residence. IRCC says it will refuse a PR application that uses expired test results.

So check your result’s age on two dates: when you create your profile and when you apply. IRCC does not say whether the 2 years run from your test date or your result date, so count from your test date to be safe. Find your exact end date in our guide to how long IELTS is valid.

If your result will expire before you can apply, IRCC gives three options. You can take a new test, apply before your result expires, or decline your invitation and go back into the Express Entry pool to be considered again later.

IRCC is looking at changing Express Entry. These changes are proposed, not final. Until IRCC changes its Express Entry pages, the rules above still apply.

IRCC’s forward regulatory plan, its public list of planned rule changes, describes a new “federal high skilled” class. It would replace the Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience and Federal Skilled Trades classes.

From 23 April to 24 May 2026, IRCC held a public consultation: it asked the public for their views on these plans. Its discussion paper proposed one language minimum for everyone: CLB 6 in reading, writing, speaking and listening. In IELTS General Training, CLB 6 is Listening 5.5, Reading 5.0, Writing 5.5 and Speaking 5.5.

IRCC says any programme changes will be published in the Canada Gazette, the government’s official record of new rules. Check IRCC’s own pages before you plan around a new number.