Which TEF Canada score goes in your Express Entry profile?
Last updated: 18 August 2026 · 5 min read
If you sat TEF Canada, enter the scores from the column labelled Équivalence ancien score on your statement of results into your Express Entry profile — not the column marked Score / 699. IRCC states plainly that entering the wrong figures may get your application refused, and the two columns sit on the same document, right next to each other.
What your TEF Canada statement of results actually shows
CCI Paris Île-de-France, which administers TEF Canada, issues one attestation de résultats (statement of results) per candidate — but that document reports each of your four abilities on more than one scale at once. One column is the figure the Express Entry system is built to read. The other is a separate raw score that looks equally official, sits in the same table, and is not usable for your application.
Nothing on the page tells you which is which unless you already know — which is exactly how the wrong number ends up in an Express Entry profile.
Which column does IRCC accept — Équivalence ancien score or Score / 699?
Only one of the two:
| Column on your statement | What it is | Enter it in Express Entry? |
|---|---|---|
| Équivalence ancien score | The score IRCC's system converts to an NCLC level | Yes — this is the only column to use |
| Score / 699 | A separate raw scale, also printed on the same statement | No — IRCC says it "isn't compatible with our system at this time" |
As a concrete check: IRCC's current table converts an Équivalence ancien score of 310–348 in speaking or writing, 249–279 in listening, or 207–232 in reading to NCLC 7 — the threshold most Express Entry candidates are targeting. Those are TEF-specific figures on TEF's own scales; they don't correspond to anything on a TCF Canada result, which uses different scales entirely and converts on our TCF Canada score-to-NCLC converter.
Were you tested between December 2023 and May 2024? Read this.
There is one further wrinkle, and it applies to a specific window. IRCC says that as part of ongoing improvements to how French is evaluated, CCI Paris Île-de-France temporarily modified how TEF Canada results were converted to NCLC, so that they briefly reflected raw scores differently, for candidates tested between 11 December 2023 and 6 May 2024. That change has since been reverted back to the standard Express Entry scoring grid IRCC currently uses.
If you tested in that window, IRCC says you may have received an email from CCI notifying you of the change and giving you an updated score, and that you may need to take action on your Express Entry profile as a result. If your test date falls in this range, that notice — not general guidance like this page — is the thing to check against your own profile.
What if I already submitted the wrong score?
This is not something to guess your way through. IRCC's own guidance covers what happens next depending on where you are in the process — invited but not yet applied, already applied, or still building your profile — and the right response differs between those cases. Read IRCC's Express Entry language test results page directly, and if your situation is genuinely unclear, that is a question for IRCC itself or a licensed immigration consultant or lawyer — not something to resolve from a blog post. We are not immigration consultants, and nothing here is a substitute for checking your own case against the current instructions.
What to check before you submit your Express Entry profile
- Confirm your statement of results has a column literally labelled Équivalence ancien score, and that you're reading your figure from there.
- Confirm you have not copied a number from the Score / 699 column instead.
- Check your test date. If it falls between 11 December 2023 and 6 May 2024, look for the CCI notification email and make sure your profile reflects the current, reverted scoring — not an interim figure.
- Cross-check the number you're about to enter against IRCC's own conversion table before you submit, rather than after.
NCLC 7 in all four abilities is the threshold for specific Express Entry benefits — it is not by itself proof that you're eligible for permanent residence, and getting the right score into your profile is a precondition for that threshold to count at all, not a guarantee of anything once it does.
This page assumes you've already sat, or are about to sit, TEF Canada specifically — it is not a reason to switch exams. If you're still choosing between TEF Canada and TCF Canada, our comparison of the two covers format and conversion differences, including this same column trap in brief.
Sources
Official sources for the figures on this page, last checked on 18 August 2026. Exam formats, conversion tables and immigration rules change — confirm anything you are about to act on against the source itself.
- Express Entry: language test results and NCLC conversion tables — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
- TEF Canada — understanding your results — Le français des affaires, CCI Paris Île-de-France
Practice the real thing
SailTCF is AI-powered TCF Canada preparation built in English for English speakers: realistic practice across all four skills, with AI-assisted feedback and estimated NCLC bands for writing and speaking. Start free with SailTCF. SailTCF scores are practice estimates, not official TCF results.
SailTCF is an independent exam-preparation tool. We are not affiliated with IRCC, France Éducation international, CCI Paris Île-de-France, TCF Canada or TEF Canada, we are not immigration consultants, and nothing here is immigration advice. Score conversions, exam formats and points rules change — always confirm the current requirements against the official sources above before making a decision about your application.