French-category draw history

IRCC publishes no fixed calendar — French rounds are called as needed, and the real gaps between them have ranged from a few weeks to several months. Every row in the table on this page is a round that actually happened, so read the intervals off the date column and disregard anyone claiming a fixed monthly schedule.

Because a French-category round ranks only candidates who meet the French condition, and that pool is far smaller. IRCC sets its categories each year against the immigration levels plan, and French is one it has explicitly prioritised. A low cutoff does not mean an easy route — the ticket in is French at NCLC 7 across all four abilities, and that is where nearly everyone stalls, not on CRS points.

On top of qualifying for one of the three federal Express Entry programs, you need NCLC 7 or above in all four abilities on TCF Canada or TEF Canada. Clearing that bar also adds 25–50 CRS points, so the ticket and the score arrive together.

Once a day, from IRCC's published Express Entry rounds data, written into our own database and then rendered here. The "data as of" stamp on the page is the last successful sync — if that date looks old, the sync is broken, so treat IRCC's site as authoritative and tell us on the board.