TCF Canada or TEF Canada, differences and how to choose

IRCC accepts both TCF Canada and TEF Canada for French. Choose on concrete differences, such as how writing and speaking are built, how the tests are scored and, above all, what dates and prices your nearest centre has.

TCF Canada and TEF Canada compared

	TCF Canada	TEF Canada
Run by	France Éducation international (FEI)	CCI Paris Île-de-France (“Le français des affaires”)
Accepted by IRCC	Yes	Yes (since 2002)
Tests (immigration)	4 mandatory, 2 h 47 in total	4 tests
Listening	39 multiple-choice questions, 35 min	40 questions, 40 min
Reading	39 multiple-choice questions, 60 min	40 questions, 1 h, multiple choice
Writing	3 tasks, 60 min	2 sections, 1 h
Speaking	3 tasks, 12 min including 2 min of preparation	2 sections, 15 min
Multiple-choice scoring	Scale that accounts for difficulty, score of 100 to 699	Right answer 1 point, wrong or blank 0
Writing and speaking	Mark out of 20 each	Own TEF bands in IRCC’s table (see below)
Validity	2 years	2 years
Test day	Schedule set by the centre	All tests on the same day
Citizenship	Can be used for citizenship	Listening and speaking only

Dates, price and citizenship at your centre

• Dates. Approved centres set their own sessions, and a test with a seat in three weeks beats a preferred one that is full for three months. Check which of the two your centre runs.
• Price. Each centre sets its own. For the full TCF Canada, Alliance Française d’Edmonton shows $400 (1 November 2026) and Institut français du Maroc shows 2,900 DH (October 2026). See how much TCF Canada costs. Ask your centre for its TEF Canada price to compare.
• Validity. Both results last 2 years, so this does not separate them.
• Citizenship. Applicants aged 18 to 54 must prove speaking and listening at NCLC 4 or higher. TEF Canada’s citizenship format covers only those two parts.

Writing

TCF Canada has 3 tasks in 60 minutes. You write a message of 60 to 120 words, an article or letter of 120 to 150 words, then a comparison text of 120 to 180 words. TEF Canada has 2 sections in 1 hour. Section A (25 minutes) continues an article, with a minimum of 80 words. Section B (35 minutes) asks you to give and justify a point of view, with a minimum of 200 words. Ask yourself whether you are more comfortable switching topic three times or developing one position at length.

Speaking

TCF Canada is 12 minutes in three tasks. They are a directed interview, an interaction with 2 minutes of preparation, and giving a point of view. It is face to face with an examiner. TEF Canada is 15 minutes, with 5 minutes to obtain information, then 10 minutes arguing to convince.

Test day

TEF Canada is all in one day. For TCF Canada, ask your centre how the four tests are scheduled.

Scoring

TCF Canada gives 100 to 699 in listening and reading through a difficulty scale you cannot recompute yourself. In a TCF multiple-choice test a wrong or blank answer is 0, with no penalty. TEF Canada does the same in reading (right 1 point, wrong or blank 0).

For TEF, IRCC tells you to enter results from the “Équivalence ancien score” column, not the /699 column. At NCLC 7, IRCC’s TEF bands are 310–348 in speaking, 249–279 in listening, 207–232 in reading and 310–348 in writing. These numbers do not compare with TCF scores. Use the TCF score chart for one and IRCC’s TEF table for the other.

If you pick TCF Canada

See the writing guide and the exam format. To see where a practice text lands, NCLC Prep scores it out of 20 with the matching NCLC range. It is a practice estimate, not the official score, and it covers TCF Canada writing only, not TEF.