+1(514) 937-9445 or Toll-free (Canada & US) +1 (888) 947-9445

Language Proof Requirement for Canadian Citizenship.

dps86

Full Member
Jan 19, 2016
41
7
Hello everyone.
I want to apply for Canadian citizenship. I just want to clarify regarding language proof requirement. I have finished a personal support program from an institute in Ontario. It was a government funded program & fully conducted in English. I have my certificate & transcript.
So, is it valid to use for Canadian citizenship language proof requirement.

Thank you in advance if anyone can answer
 

forw.jane

VIP Member
Apr 29, 2019
6,855
2,796
Hello everyone.
I want to apply for Canadian citizenship. I just want to clarify regarding language proof requirement. I have finished a personal support program from an institute in Ontario. It was a government funded program & fully conducted in English. I have my certificate & transcript.
So, is it valid to use for Canadian citizenship language proof requirement.

Thank you in advance if anyone can answer
Did you or do you attend a secondary or post-secondary program in English or French?
The program can be in or outside Canada.

If you did, send a copy of proof that you completed or are attending a program with your application. Proof can be your:

diploma
transcript
certificate
Your proof must be in English or French. If it’s in another language, you must also send a certified English or French translation. The translation should show that the language of instruction of the program was English or French


Looks like it may fit in this criteria but I am not 100% sure about it.
 

D-Dog

Star Member
Feb 2, 2024
61
53
My first application was bounced because I didn't have a language certificate. I'm English born to English parents, graduated at an English high school with English language and literature qualifications, served in the British Armed Forces after going through army college, and now work for a Canadian technology company as a project manager. All evidence was provided. However, none of this was enough to convince the IRCC that I could actually speak my native language. Therefore, I had to complete the IELTS course. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: YVR123

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,127
8,784
My first application was bounced because I didn't have a language certificate. I'm English born to English parents, graduated at an English high school with English language and literature qualifications, served in the British Armed Forces after going through army college, and now work for a Canadian technology company as a project manager. All evidence was provided. However, none of this was enough to convince the IRCC that I could actually speak my native language. Therefore, I had to complete the IELTS course. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
It's quite odd that your English secondary school graduation wasn't accepted. (Did they want you to prove the language of instruction was in English?)

That said: I think many perhaps underestimate how much easier and more simple it may be to just sit the CELPIP - LS (the shorter one). It's only about an hour and done, seemingly offered several times a week in the bigger cities. Yes, it's a couple hundred bucks, which is a rip-off when it SHOULD be easier to just show you did education in English. But sometimes with getting official copies, transcripts, sometimes translations, etc, it may just faster and easier and possibly less costly to do the test. Especially if IRCC goes back and forth asking for more docs.

Yep, a wee bit insulting, perhaps, but there it is.
 

D-Dog

Star Member
Feb 2, 2024
61
53
It's quite odd that your English secondary school graduation wasn't accepted. (Did they want you to prove the language of instruction was in English?)

That said: I think many perhaps underestimate how much easier and more simple it may be to just sit the CELPIP - LS (the shorter one). It's only about an hour and done, seemingly offered several times a week in the bigger cities. Yes, it's a couple hundred bucks, which is a rip-off when it SHOULD be easier to just show you did education in English. But sometimes with getting official copies, transcripts, sometimes translations, etc, it may just faster and easier and possibly less costly to do the test. Especially if IRCC goes back and forth asking for more docs.

Yep, a wee bit insulting, perhaps, but there it is.
'Quite odd' was similar to the words I used. No clarification was given so I provided more information, including employment contracts and a link to Penguin Random House where they've published several of my books in the English language. But I was met with the same cut and paste response... I was bounced again. In the end, I did exactly what you said and took the test at a centre. It was very straightforward, but part of me felt that I was taking part in a racket designed to squeeze funds out of applicants. Maybe that's a tad harsh and the IRCC are just incredibly inflexible or have serious gaps in their process. Regardless, I know they have a tough job and encounter thousands of different circumstances on a daily basis.
 

YVR123

VIP Member
Jul 27, 2017
7,367
2,862
My first application was bounced because I didn't have a language certificate. I'm English born to English parents, graduated at an English high school with English language and literature qualifications, served in the British Armed Forces after going through army college, and now work for a Canadian technology company as a project manager. All evidence was provided. However, none of this was enough to convince the IRCC that I could actually speak my native language. Therefore, I had to complete the IELTS course. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
This is truely ODD!!
This should be enough as your language proof (your high school certificate). Did you write a letter of explanation (showing that school is in Great Britian) so that the additional document would be read by a true human? It's very shocking.
graduated at an English high school with English language and literature qualifications
 
  • Like
Reactions: D-Dog and armoured

D-Dog

Star Member
Feb 2, 2024
61
53
This is truely ODD!!
This should be enough as your language proof (your high school certificate). Did you write a letter of explanation (showing that school is in Great Britian) so that the additional document would be read by a true human? It's very shocking.
graduated at an English high school with English language and literature qualifications
We don't get high school certificates in the UK. We receive certificates from examination boards for the chosen subject: maths, biology, physics, English literature, geography etc. To be honest, I felt like I could have sent a virtual reality version of myself reciting Shakespeare, and I would have received the same cut and paste response. In the end, I decided the best way forward was to take the course and move on. It wasn't a hill I was prepared to die on.
 

YVR123

VIP Member
Jul 27, 2017
7,367
2,862
We don't get high school certificates in the UK. We receive certificates from examination boards for the chosen subject: maths, biology, physics, English literature, geography etc. To be honest, I felt like I could have sent a virtual reality version of myself reciting Shakespeare, and I would have received the same cut and paste response. In the end, I decided the best way forward was to take the course and move on. It wasn't a hill I was prepared to die on.
OIC.
I guess they are fixated with a certicate. :(
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,127
8,784
My preference was for my application to proceed, hence biting the bullet and doing the course. Attempting to tackle the silliness of the situation would have been like a flea trying to fight a shoe.
Exactly, there are some things I understand wanting to fight over (for example if you were somewhere where it's hard to take the test), and hey, everyone decides for themselves on priorities - but sometimes expedient works best.

That said, I'm quite surprised the O or A levels wasn't sufficient to appease them. Or your army college certificate or whatever. Nonsense obviously. But bureaucracies gonna do what they do sometimes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YVR123 and D-Dog

D-Dog

Star Member
Feb 2, 2024
61
53
Exactly, there are some things I understand wanting to fight over (for example if you were somewhere where it's hard to take the test), and hey, everyone decides for themselves on priorities - but sometimes expedient works best.

That said, I'm quite surprised the O or A levels wasn't sufficient to appease them. Or your army college certificate or whatever. Nonsense obviously. But bureaucracies gonna do what they do sometimes.
Right? I copied every page of my service record, including the report stating I attended and passed through army college and served with an exemplary record. Quite what language the IRCC thought I was speaking at the time is beyond me. But alas, I know they are extremely busy and sometimes it leads to these type of scenarios. I have no hard feelings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: armoured

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
17,127
8,784
Quite what language the IRCC thought I was speaking at the time is beyond me.
There's a point in bureaucratic processes where there is no thought at all, but a task to tick the box / proceed only when something fits the exact language, eg. 'certifies' that [something like 'language of instruction'] English. And of course - jurisdictions that teach only/primarily in English don't certify such a thing [because bleeding obvious and cannot think of anyone who would ask such a daft question.]

It's rather like in another thread, there are a handful of US states that don't issue marriage certificates (the license is completed and registered and stamped or something, that's what certifies a marriage, or if you prefer, a 'completed' marriage license is a certificate). This periodically baffles IRCC (probably doesn't help that these documents are issued by counties not states/provinces).

Of course there's someone senior who understands or has common sense, but the people doing document checks don't like going to them, and it's ... let's say 'expensive' (in time or whatever) from the outside to invoke that deity.

Probably someone somewhere periodically writes instructions to explain these odd exceptions but of course ... you have to have epxerience or initiative to know where to find this info and look it up, which the junior staff doing these things doesn't have (if they knew all that, they'd be senior, innit? - as they say).

Now leaving aside that those US states should get a proper centralized registrar - Canada has its own issues of federalism, like there is no Canadian authority that can say whether or not a Canadian is / has been officially married/remains married acc to local law etc. There are at least 13 of them, and they don't really cooperate on this. (This astounds some foreign officials, and not surprisingly). Heck there's no common understanding of common law relationships.

The analogy I've used for years: all bureaucracies have a number of gears and mechanisms turning furiously, some fast, some slow. And different bureaucracies always have different-sized teeth on their gears; when those gears are forced to work together, they grind more than they ought. Sometimes not very much, but sometimes a lot.

(The IT analogy would use different terminology, of course)

But alas, I know they are extremely busy and sometimes it leads to these type of scenarios. I have no hard feelings.
This is the only correct way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YVR123 and D-Dog

swan0206

Champion Member
May 14, 2019
1,208
232
Did you or do you attend a secondary or post-secondary program in English or French?
The program can be in or outside Canada.

If you did, send a copy of proof that you completed or are attending a program with your application. Proof can be your:

diploma
transcript
certificate
Your proof must be in English or French. If it’s in another language, you must also send a certified English or French translation. The translation should show that the language of instruction of the program was English or French


Looks like it may fit in this criteria but I am not 100% sure about it.
Can we provide both the documents? Like diploma and also transcripts?