TEF and TCF Canada Results: Timelines, Validity and Next Steps (2026)
Table of Contents10 sections
TEF Canada results arrive by email within 1 to 10 business days of the test day, as a link to a digital safe where you download the certificate. TCF Canada results take longer: France Éducation international returns them to your test centre within 15 working days of receiving the session materials (10 for the computer-based multiple-choice tests), so plan for two to four weeks. Both are valid for two years. Below: what each certificate shows, which column IRCC wants, when the two-year clock starts, and what to do if one ability came up short.
TEF Canada: results by email in 1 to 10 business days from the test day, downloaded from a digital safe. No paper certificate.
TCF Canada: results reach your centre within 15 working days of France Éducation international receiving the materials (10 for computer-based multiple choice). Plan for two to four weeks.
Validity: two years for both. IRCC needs them under two years old when you submit your Express Entry profile and when you apply for PR.
TEF Canada results: how long and how you get them
Timeline
Le français des affaires, which runs the TEF, sends results within 1 to 10 business days from the test day, as of September 2026. You receive an email with a link to a digital safe and download the certificate there; there is no paper certificate. The safe keeps the certificate for 10 years, so you can download it again if you lose the file. If nothing has arrived after 10 business days, check your spam folder, then contact the centre where you sat the exam.
What the TEF certificate shows
Since the 2025 format change, the certificate reports each of the four tests as a score out of 699, with the level reached and a short description of the skills at that level. Beside it sits a column called Équivalence ancien score, the equivalent on the old scale: speaking out of 450, listening out of 360, reading out of 300 and writing out of 450.
IRCC still converts TEF Canada with those old scales, and its Express Entry language page says to use the old-score column. Typing the 699-scale number into your profile is wrong and can lead to a refusal. For NCLC 7, the old-scale minimums are 310 in speaking, 249 in listening, 207 in reading and 310 in writing.
Retaking the TEF
There is a 20-day waiting period between two successive TEF tests, and for Express Entry IRCC wants all four abilities from one sitting, so you cannot keep three strong results from one date and add a fourth from another. If you sit again, our guide to booking the TEF exam covers the steps.
If something went wrong on the day
The TEF has no paid re-marking. The only route is a free appeal, the demande de recours, filed within 30 days of the certificate, for anomalies during the session only, not for a mark you disagree with. A successful appeal cancels the existing certificate and gives you a free re-sit. Details are on our TEF re-evaluation page.
TCF Canada results: how long and how you get them
Timeline
France Éducation international marks the TCF Canada, not your centre. Once it receives the session materials, it returns the results within 15 working days, or 10 working days for the computer-based multiple-choice tests, and your centre then issues the attestation. Because the clock starts only when the materials arrive, most centres tell candidates to plan for two to four weeks, as of September 2026, and the centre is the place to ask if the wait passes four weeks.
What the TCF attestation shows
Your attestation gives a score for each of the four tests: listening and reading on the 699-point scale, writing and speaking out of 20. Each test has its NCLC line, so you can read your level per ability straight off the document. It also carries the validity date and the certificate number, which you enter in your Express Entry profile.
For NCLC 7, the minimums are 458 in listening, 453 in reading, 10 in writing and 10 in speaking.
Retaking the TCF
Between two sittings of the same tests, a minimum gap applies: 20 days in the current rules, though some centres still quote 30, so confirm it with your centre before you book. As with the TEF, IRCC accepts the four abilities from one sitting only. Our guide to booking the TCF exam covers the steps.
Re-marking
A re-marking route exists for the TCF, the demande de recorrection, but it is narrower than most candidates expect: writing and speaking only. You request it through your test centre within about a month of the results, pay roughly CA$90 to CA$200 per section, and wait four to six weeks. The fee is never refunded, and the revised score can be lower.
As of September 2026, Canadian centres have announced that the route closes for exams taken on or after 1 September 2026 while the system is modernised. Check the current position on our TCF re-evaluation page before you count on it.
TEF vs TCF results at a glance
IRCC accepts both tests for Express Entry, but the results process differs on almost every practical point.
Item | TEF Canada | TCF Canada |
|---|---|---|
Results timeline | 1 to 10 business days | Two to four weeks via centre |
Delivery | Email link to digital safe | Attestation from the centre |
Validity | Two years | Two years from issue date |
Scale shown | 699 per test plus old-score column | 699 listening, reading; 20 writing, speaking |
IRCC column to use | Équivalence ancien score | Scores as printed |
Retake gap | 20 days | 20 days (some centres say 30) |
Re-marking | None; free appeal within 30 days | Writing and speaking; closing Sept 2026 |
How to read your score against IRCC's levels
Each ability is assessed separately by IRCC and never averaged: a program that asks for NCLC 7 means NCLC 7 in every ability, so your lowest test sets your level.
TEF Canada, old-scale scores from the Équivalence ancien score column:
Ability | NCLC 7 minimum | NCLC 7 band | Old-scale maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
Speaking | 310 | 310 to 348 | 450 |
Listening | 249 | 249 to 279 | 360 |
Reading | 207 | 207 to 232 | 300 |
Writing | 310 | 310 to 348 | 450 |
TCF Canada, scores as printed on the attestation:
Ability | NCLC 7 minimum | NCLC 7 band | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
Speaking | 10 | 10 to 11 | out of 20 |
Listening | 458 | 458 to 502 | out of 699 |
Reading | 453 | 453 to 498 | out of 699 |
Writing | 10 | 10 to 11 | out of 20 |
For the full band-by-band TEF table, including the NCLC 8 and 9 thresholds, see our TEF score conversion chart. To convert a score you already hold, or compare it with an IELTS or CELPIP result, use the CLB converter.
Validity: two years, counted from when
Both results are valid for two years. The TCF attestation counts them from the results issue date, printed on the document; the TEF certificate is also valid for two years, so note its date the day it arrives.
IRCC applies its own rule on top: the results must be less than two years old on the day you submit your Express Entry profile and again on the day you apply for permanent residence. A certificate that expires between the two does not meet the rule.
Count backwards from the PR application, not forwards from today. An invitation can take months, and the application follows it, so a certificate that is already 18 months old when you enter the pool leaves very little room. Sit the test early enough that it still has well over a year left, or plan the retake in time to replace it.
What to do with your results
Once the certificate or attestation is in your hands, the work moves to IRCC's side. Our guide to using TEF results for Canadian PR goes deeper on the profile; these five steps apply to both tests.
Enter the results in Express Entry
Use the certificate number from the document. For the TEF, enter the Équivalence ancien score column, never the 699-scale number; for the TCF, the scores as printed.
Check the French category and CRS points
NCLC 7 or higher in all four abilities qualifies you for French-category draws and adds 25 CRS points, or 50 with CLB 5 or higher in all four English abilities.
Look at Francophone Mobility
It asks for NCLC 5 or higher in speaking and listening only, for a TEER 0 to 5 job outside Quebec. A result that misses NCLC 7 can still open this route.
Check provincial streams
Provincial nominee programs set their own language minimums. Check the stream you are targeting before you assume the federal thresholds apply.
Keep the PDF and note the expiry
Download the certificate the day it arrives and keep a copy outside your inbox. Put the two-year date in your calendar.
French-category draws have run roughly every three to four weeks in 2026; our Express Entry draw history page tracks them.
If one ability is short
One ability under the line is the most common results problem. Our CLB 7 in French guide covers the preparation side; these are the options on the results side.
- Retake after the waiting period. 20 days for the TEF; 20 days for the TCF in the current rules, with some centres still quoting 30.
- Target the weakest ability. IRCC never averages, so the retake only pays off if the weak ability moves.
- Sit a scored mock first. A full-length timed mock with a per-section NCLC estimate shows whether the gap is a few points or a whole level before you pay a second exam fee.
- Re-marking exists only for the TCF, for writing and speaking, and the score can go down as well as up. The TEF has no re-mark: its appeal route is for anomalies on the day, not for a disputed mark.
What Mocko's data shows
On Mocko's full-length mocks, writing is the section most likely to be above the line before the real test, and speaking the least likely. For TEF Canada, 19% of scored speaking sections reached CEFR B2 or above, level with reading at 19%, against 21% for listening and 35% for writing. For TCF Canada the gap is wider: 6% of speaking sections reached B2 or above, against 17% for listening, 19% for reading and 22% for writing. NCLC 7 sits roughly at the lower end of B2, so speaking is the ability most likely to hold a profile back on either test.
Across both tests, roughly half of all scored sections sit at B1 or above, from 45% for TCF writing and speaking to 66% for TEF writing. B1 sits roughly at NCLC 5, so about half of the sections we score are within one CEFR level of the NCLC 7 line. A scored mock before a retake tells you which side of that line you are on.
Source: Mocko full-length mock exams, completed sittings, 180 days to 9 September 2026, staff and test accounts excluded, 2,039 scored sections. Sections are graded by Mocko's AI scoring on the CEFR scale, so the NCLC bands are estimates, not official results, and no figure here is a pass rate for the real exam.
TEF Canada results arrive within 1 to 10 business days of the test day, as of September 2026. Le français des affaires emails a link to a digital safe where you download the certificate. If nothing has arrived after 10 business days, check your spam folder, then contact your test centre.
Next step
Sit a free scored section on Mocko before you book a retake, and see where the ability that was short actually stands. The TEF Canada practice page and the TCF Canada practice page offer full-length timed mocks, section practice and quick tests, scored instantly by AI with a CEFR level and an NCLC estimate per section. Sign up at app.mocko.ai; the free tier needs no card.
