Canada Wants 40,200 French Speakers in 2029: Why Now Is the Time to Learn French

If you have been treating French as a nice extra, the numbers say otherwise. Canada's 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan, published on November 5, 2026, sets targets for French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec at 9.5% in 2027, 10.5% in 2028 and 12% in 2029, which IRCC puts at 31,825, 35,175 and 40,200 admissions. And in Express Entry, French was the busiest door of 2026: 60,500 invitations in 12 French-language rounds by October 28, more than any other category.

Here is the part most people miss: you don't have to be fluent to start benefiting. An intermediate level, roughly B1, can already support an LMIA-exempt work permit. An upper-intermediate level, roughly B2, can add more than 60 CRS points and makes you eligible for the category IRCC invited the most people from in 2026. Think of French as a ladder: every rung you climb opens something new.

Start with our TEF Canada & TCF Canada guide

If this article convinces you to start, our TEF Canada & TCF Canada Guide and Cheat Sheet is the next step: a 49-page PDF prepared with Ramin Asadi, RCIC (CICC No. R407111). It shows which French tests count for Express Entry, how scores convert to NCLC (including the TEF Canada “old score” you must enter), the score each program and the French-language category need, section-by-section guides to both tests, a 12-week study plan, 44 smart tricks and 12 sample tasks with model answers. It is written in English, downloads instantly, and is included free once your Canada Immigration Roadmap is delivered.

Get the TEF Canada & TCF Canada Guide

The targets: French speakers get a bigger share every year

IRCC says it beat its francophone target outside Quebec for the fourth year in a row in 2025. The new plan keeps raising the bar:

Two details matter. These targets count permanent residents who settle outside Quebec; Quebec selects its own immigrants under its own rules. And the francophone share rises every year of the plan, while the Express Entry target (the Federal High Skilled programs) stays at 100,000 a year for 2027, 2028 and 2029.

There is a provincial door too. Starting in 2026, IRCC reserves 5,000 federal selection spaces that provinces and territories can use to designate French-speaking immigrants, on top of their regular Provincial Nominee Program allocations.

In Express Entry, French was the busiest door of 2026

Category-based rounds are where those targets turn into invitations. From January 1 to October 28, 2026, IRCC held 12 French-language proficiency rounds and invited 60,500 candidates, about 40% of all 149,409 Express Entry invitations in that period. Compare the lowest score invited in each type of round:

A lower cut-off does not make it an easy route. The hard part of the French category is the language result itself: NCLC 7 or higher in all four abilities (listening, speaking, reading and writing) on TEF Canada or TCF Canada, plus eligibility for one of the Express Entry programs. But once you hold that result, the 2026 rounds show what it was worth: French cut-offs sat roughly 70 to 140 points below the Canadian Experience Class rounds. You can follow every round on our Express Entry draws page.

What about 2027? In its summer 2026 consultation, IRCC said it is considering keeping the focus on Francophone immigration in category-based selection for 2027, but the 2027 categories have not been announced yet. One independent estimate, published by the immigration site Moving2Canada on November 12, 2026, puts French-language invitations in 2027 at about 44,000, with a central range of 38,000 to 57,000. That is their model, not an IRCC figure.

The French ladder: what each level opens

IRCC measures French on the NCLC scale (Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens), the French counterpart of the CLB. French schools usually describe levels on the European scale, A1 to C2. On TEF Canada's score tables the two line up neatly: the score where NCLC 5 starts is where B1 starts, and the score where NCLC 7 starts is where B2 starts. On TCF Canada a low B1 or B2 can fall one NCLC level short, so always check the NCLC level your actual scores give you. Here is what each rung opens:

• Rung 1: NCLC 5 in speaking and listening (around B1), Mobilité Francophone. An LMIA-exempt work permit (exemption code C16) for a job offer anywhere in Canada outside Quebec, in any TEER category except primary agriculture jobs in TEER 4 and 5. Only speaking and listening are assessed. Your employer submits the offer through IRCC's Employer Portal and pays the $230 employer compliance fee, and no Labour Market Impact Assessment is needed. IRCC's instructions accept TEF or TCF results or proof of studies completed in French, and an officer can ask for more evidence or an oral assessment.
• Rung 2: NCLC 7 in all four abilities (around B2), Express Entry's French category and bonus points. If you also qualify for an Express Entry program, you become eligible for French-language rounds. You also earn additional points: 50 if your English is CLB 5 or higher in all four abilities, or 25 if your English is CLB 4 or lower or you have no English test. When French is your second official language, NCLC 7 in all four abilities adds another 12 points.
• Rung 3: Canadian experience while you keep climbing. Skilled work done in Canada on a Mobilité Francophone permit can count toward the Canadian Experience Class, which generally asks for a year of full-time work in TEER 0 to 3. The class has its own language minimum in all four abilities (NCLC 7 for TEER 0 and 1 jobs, NCLC 5 for TEER 2 and 3), and TEER 4 and 5 work does not count toward it.

Our full guide to Mobilité Francophone walks through the work permit step by step, and our report on the 382-point French round shows what one of these rounds looks like up close.

What 62 points look like

Take a hypothetical candidate already in the Express Entry pool with 470 points: single, English at CLB 9 in all four abilities, no French. Reaching NCLC 7 in all four French abilities would add 50 bonus points plus 12 second-language points, for a new total of 532. Just as important, that same result would make them eligible for French-language rounds, where every cut-off in 2026 was 435 or lower.

Work out your own numbers with our CRS calculator. If you already have a TEF Canada or TCF Canada result, our CLB and NCLC calculator converts it to NCLC levels.

How to learn French for immigration: a practical plan

French for immigration is not French for a literature degree. The tests measure whether you can understand and be understood in everyday and work situations. A plan that works for many learners:

• Start with your ears and your voice. The first rung only looks at speaking and listening, so put those first: a little listening every day, speaking out loud, and a tutor or conversation partner as early as you can.
• Learn the test, not just the language. TEF Canada and TCF Canada are the two French tests IRCC accepts for Express Entry. Each has its own format and timing, so practise with official sample material before you book. Our TEF Canada & TCF Canada guide breaks both tests down section by section.
• Listen to Canadian French. Radio-Canada, francophone community radio outside Quebec and Canadian podcasts get your ear used to the French you will hear at work in Canada.
• Add reading and writing once you can hold a conversation. The second rung needs NCLC 7 in all four abilities, and writing is often the last one to arrive.
• Time your test. For Express Entry, results must be less than two years old when you create your profile and when you apply for permanent residence, so book the test when your practice scores say you are ready, not years in advance.
• Be patient with yourself. Going from beginner to B1 usually takes several hundred hours of study and practice, and B2 takes more. Your starting point, the other languages you speak and how often you practise all change that.

Is French worth it for you?

French is most worth the effort if one of these describes you:

• you are in the Express Entry pool but your score sits below recent rounds for your other options;
• you are outside Canada and could find a job offer outside Quebec, where NCLC 5 in speaking and listening can support a work permit;
• you plan to study in Canada and are open to a francophone community, in which case read about the francophone minority communities student pilot;
• you already have some French from school, work or family, so the climb is shorter than it looks.

It is less urgent if your score already clears recent rounds for your profile. And if Quebec is your goal, Quebec selects skilled workers through its own system with its own French requirements, which this article does not cover.

What could change

Plan for these before you build everything around French:

• The 2027 categories are not announced. IRCC has said it is considering keeping the francophone focus. That is not a decision.
• Targets can move. IRCC notes the francophone targets may need updates once Quebec tables its 2027 plan, and the later years of any levels plan are notional.
• Round sizes and cut-offs change. Fewer or smaller French rounds would usually mean higher cut-offs.

The bottom line

Canada plans to welcome a larger share of French speakers outside Quebec every year through 2029, and in 2026 French-language rounds were Express Entry's biggest category. Each level you add, from your first conversation to B1 and from B1 to B2, opens something concrete: a work permit, a dedicated category, extra points. If you want to see where French fits in your own plan, start with the Express Entry plan at the top of this page or read our Express Entry guide. For the full picture of the new plan, see our 2027–2029 Levels Plan report.