IELTS General Training for Canadian Immigration

At a glance

IELTS General Training is the Express Entry variant of IELTS, co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. It is the most widely available IRCC-approved English test worldwide and is accepted for every Canadian economic-immigration program that requires English. The test covers four abilities — Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking — and is available in both paper-based and computer-delivered formats. IRCC only accepts the General Training module; the Academic module, despite similar branding, is not valid for permanent residence.

Result turnaround

Computer-delivered: 3–5 calendar days. Paper-based: 13 calendar days from the test date.

Cost

Approximately CAD 320–340 in Canada (quote varies by centre). Fees differ in other countries — always confirm with the local IDP or British Council office.

Validity

2 years from the test date.

Test centres

1,600+ test centres in 140+ countries, including 30+ in Canada. Computer-delivered sittings are available up to 3 days per week at most centres; paper-based sittings are less frequent. Book at ielts.org or your local provider.

Convert my IELTS scores

How it is scored

Each ability (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking) is reported on a 0–9 band scale in 0.5 increments. Your overall band is the average of the four abilities, but IRCC only uses the per-ability bands — the overall band does not appear in CRS scoring.

Conversion table

Listening

Reading

Writing

Speaking