If you are building an Express Entry profile, your language score is almost certainly the single lever with the biggest effect on your Comprehensive Ranking System score. Age is fixed, education is fixed, and work experience grows slowly. Language is the one factor you can realistically move in a test-prep cycle, and moving up a single benchmark can add dozens of CRS points across several categories.
IRCC does not work with raw IELTS or CELPIP numbers. It converts every result to a Canadian benchmark. The Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) scale measures English on a 1 to 12 range, and the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) scale does the same for French. The two scales are numerically identical and parallel, so "CLB 7" and "NCLC 7" describe the same level of proficiency. The rest of this post refers to them together as CLB/NCLC.
Every accepted test carries equal weight once it is converted to CLB/NCLC. IRCC does not accept TOEFL in any form for economic immigration.
If you want the raw score that produces each CLB or NCLC level, the companion post has the full tables for all five tests: Converting language test scores to CLB and NCLC.
Every test reports four separate scores: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. IRCC records a CLB or NCLC level per ability, not one combined score. Two rules follow from that:
Pushing one ability just over the next benchmark line is often the cheapest way to gain CRS points.
For Express Entry, results are valid for two years from the test date. They must be valid when you submit your profile and when you accept an Invitation to Apply. If your results expire while you are in the pool, update your profile with new scores or you risk losing eligibility at the invitation stage.
Next stops: the CRS score explainer, the NOC and TEER explainer, the Provincial Nominee Program explainer, and the conversion tables. For the full official rules, see the IRCC language test page. When you are ready to see where a given CLB/NCLC level lands you, try the CRS calculator or the Express Entry eligibility checker.
