French for Express Entry: Points and Cutoffs

French at NCLC 7 in all four skills is worth up to 62 CRS points for an English-first Express Entry candidate, and it opens the French-language proficiency draws. Since January 2025 those draws have cleared at a median of 408 points, about 110 below the Canadian Experience Class draws, so for many candidates French is the biggest lever still within their control.

Both numbers are ours. We enumerated the French part of the official Comprehensive Ranking System grid (page dated 22 June 2026), and we analysed all 448 rounds of invitations in the data file IRCC publishes, from January 2015 to 1 October 2026.

How many CRS points is French worth?

French is worth up to 62 CRS points at NCLC 7 for a candidate whose first official language is English with at least CLB 5, and up to 74 points at NCLC 9. The points come from two separate lines of the IRCC grid: second official language points, and additional points for French-language skills.

The table assumes no spouse or partner, whose cap on second-language points is 22 instead of 24. If English is at CLB 4 or below, or you took no English test, the French bonus is 25 instead of 50, so NCLC 7 gives 37 points. Candidates whose stronger language is French should declare it as first official language, which moves them onto the much larger first-language scale; IRCC’s own page for French-speaking skilled workers recommends choosing the strongest language as the first.

Why is NCLC 7 the only level that really counts?

NCLC 7 in every one of the four skills is the gate for both the 50-point French bonus and the French-language draws, so the value of French in Express Entry is concentrated almost entirely on that single step. According to Gallus’s enumeration of the CRS grid, moving from NCLC 6 to NCLC 7 in all four skills adds 58 points, and no other step adds more than 12.

The rule is applied skill by skill, and it is unforgiving.

One skill one level short costs 52 points. Across the 2,401 possible profiles with each skill between NCLC 4 and NCLC 10, only 256, or 10.7%, reach the bonus, and in those profiles the bonus makes up 73.5% of the French points. These are combinations of levels, not real candidates, so the share says nothing about how many people reach it. It does say where to aim: a learner should bring the weakest skill up to 7 before pushing any skill to 9. Which test makes that easier on paper is compared in TCF Canada vs TEF Canada.

How low are the French-language draw cutoffs?

French-language proficiency draws are Express Entry rounds that only invite candidates with NCLC 7 or higher in all four French skills, a requirement set out on IRCC’s category-based selection page. According to Gallus’s analysis of IRCC draw data, their median cutoff since January 2025 is 408 points.

Since 1 January 2025, the 19 French draws had a median cutoff of 408 and the 32 Canadian Experience Class draws a median of 518.5, a gap of 110 points. In 2026 alone the gap was 116 points. The two pools are not identical, since Canadian Experience Class draws only invite people with Canadian work experience. The occupation categories sit in between: since 2025, healthcare, education, transport and trades draws cleared at medians of 470 to 505. Only a few small, highly specific rounds went lower than the French ones, such as the three draws for physicians with Canadian work experience.

How many invitations go to French speakers?

French-language draws have grown from a minor category into a large share of all Express Entry invitations. In Gallus’s count of IRCC data, 36 French-language draws issued 130,200 invitations between July 2023, when the category began, and August 2026.

Since January 2025, French-language draws have issued 98,500 of 249,213 invitations, or 39.5%. These are invitations to apply, not admissions: some are declined or refused. And categories are set year by year, so none of this is a promise for 2027. The measurement script is tools/express_entry_french.py in the Gallus site repository; it downloads IRCC’s draw file each time it runs, so the figures can be refreshed after every draw.

Is learning French worth it for Express Entry?

Learning French to NCLC 7 is worth it for Express Entry when your current score sits below the general and Canadian Experience Class cutoffs and you can realistically reach B2 in all four skills while your other factors still hold. The gain is large, but it only arrives once the weakest skill reaches NCLC 7.

The time cost is real. NCLC 7 corresponds to about CEFR B2, and the planning figures in how long it takes to learn French put B2 at roughly 550 to 650 study hours from zero, with about 200 hours between B1 and B2. Age points fall each year after 29 in the same grid, so a two-year French plan should be weighed against what those two years cost elsewhere. For a candidate already at B1, the calculation is usually easy; for a complete beginner, it is a serious commitment that pays off only at the finish line. Quebec runs its own selection with its own tests, covered in TEFAQ vs TCF Québec.

Where does Gallus fit?

Most candidates who stall at NCLC 6 are blocked by listening and speaking speed, not by grammar rules. Gallus is built around graded French stories from A1 to C1 with audio, designed to build exactly that comprehension through volume at the right level. The B2 level page sets out what the NCLC 7 target involves.

What is the bottom line?

For an English-first candidate, French is worth 62 CRS points at NCLC 7, and almost nothing below it. It also opens draws whose median cutoff has been about 110 points lower than Canadian Experience Class draws since 2025, and which took 39.5% of all invitations over that period.

Get every skill to NCLC 7 before polishing any one of them, keep the test result less than two years old on the day you apply, and recheck the draw data before you plan around it.