Language requirements for Canadian Citizenship (proposal for changes)

Changes have been proposed to the way the government of Canada assesses the language abilities of prospective new citizens. Under the proposal, adult citizenship applicants would be required to provide objective evidence of language ability with their citizenship applications. This change will encourage applicants to ensure that they can speak English or French when they apply for citizenship, thereby improving the integrity and effectiveness of the citizenship program for Canada and for new Canadians alike.This proposed change would not increase the language level required, but would change the way that citizenship applicants aged 18-54 prove their language ability.Applicants would be able to demonstrate language ability by submitting a variety of evidence, including: the results of a third party test; evidence of completion of secondary or post-secondary education in English or French; or evidence of achieving CLB/NCLC 4 in certain government funded language training programs. As per the release, the language skills to be assessed would be speaking and listening only.