Written by Gabriela Estrada

To live in Canada as an international student and be admitted to the university, you must have from sufficient economic funds to a good command of English, therefore, if you are beginning to process your study visa, you must demonstrate to the Canadian country that you do speak English and can be part of its Anglo-Saxon linguistic culture. 

There are several tests or exams that are presented to demonstrate the ability of a second language, the best known is the IELTS, a certified test of international recognition that is used for work and academic immigration purposes, and there is also a test less known by many foreigners, but very useful because it evaluates the general English of Canada for immigration, citizenship and professional designation, this test is called CELPIP. Now, in order to take one or the other test, you must first know what each one is for, so you will avoid wasting time and money. This is the subject of our article by Planeta Immiland, a language academy focused on English and French for those international students who dream of making their professional career in Canada.

Below, we describe what each test consists of and how they differ. 

What is IELTS?

Its full name is the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and is a certified testing system developed by Cambridge ESOL (UK), IDP Australia (Australia) and the British Council; however, the listening test has both American and British accents. The test was designed to document and validate English proficiency.

What is CELPIP?

The Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) is a general English language proficiency assessment program designed in Canada for immigration, citizenship and professional designation. The test is designed to demonstrate an individual's English proficiency in a variety of everyday situations, such as communicating with co-workers and superiors in the workplace, interacting with friends, understanding the news, and interpreting and responding to written materials with the particularities of Canadian linguistics. 

How do IELTS and CELPIP differ?

From the definitions of IELTS and CELPIP, it is clearly distinguishable that both come from different geographies, IELTS is British and CELPIP is Canadian, but there are other significant differences which are mentioned in the table below.

What is the IELTS test for?

The IELTS is the test used to certify that the applicant is proficient in English to migrate, study or work in countries where English is the native or majority language. In this way you can: apply for a job and university studies abroad, support a visa application to live in an English-speaking country, certify English proficiency to graduate from high school or university, get a better job or a promotion, pursue higher education.

What is CELPIP used for?

The CELPIP serves to assess the Canadian English fluency of individuals seeking to study, work or have immigration opportunities in Canada. This will enable them to: meet the language immigration requirements for Canadian citizenship, study and/or obtain better employment in Canada, better adapt to the Canadian language environment.

Now that you know the most significant differences between IELTS and CELPIP we hope you can make the decision that best suits your immigration case. If you are thinking about applying for your student visa, you can explore our complete course IELTS PreparationThis course is prepared and implemented by a certified IELTS teacher and is open to a maximum of 8 students. If you want to live in Canada and you are about to apply for citizenship, then you can check our course CELPIP PreparationWe also offer preparation for the CAELthe Express Entry Course and more.

Contact us at Planet Immiland Education and we'll be happy to help you with whatever you need!

With love,

Planet Immiland