Criteria

(1)For the purposes of paragraphs 75(2)(d), 79(3)(a), 87.1(2)(d) and (e), 87.2(3)(a) and 87.3(2)(f), the Minister shall fix, by class prescribed by these Regulations or by occupation, and make available to the public, minimum language proficiency thresholds on the basis of (a)the number of applications in all classes under this Part that are being processed; (b)the number of immigrants who are projected to become permanent residents according to the report to Parliament referred to in section 94 of the Act; and (c)the potential, taking into account the applicants’ linguistic profiles and economic and other relevant factors, for the establishment in Canada of applicants under the federal skilled worker class, the Canadian experience class, the federal skilled trades class and the Atlantic immigration class.

(2)The minimum language proficiency thresholds fixed by the Minister shall be established in reference to the benchmarks described in the Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens.

(3)The Minister may designate, for any period he or she specifies, any organization or institution to be responsible for evaluating language proficiency and approve the language test to be used to evaluate that proficiency if the organization or institution (a)has expertise in evaluating language proficiency; and (b)has provided the Minister with an equivalency between its language test results and the benchmarks set out in the Canadian Language Benchmarks or the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens, as the case may be.

(4)The Minister shall make available to the public the names of the designated organizations or institutions and the approved language tests.

(5)For the purpose of subsection (6), service agreement means an agreement concluded between the Government of Canada and an organization or institution for the purpose of having the organization or institution supply the service of evaluating the language proficiency of foreign nationals.

(6)The Minister may revoke a designation of an organization or institution or the approval of a language test if (a)the organization or institution no longer meets the criteria set out in subsection (3); (b)the organization or institution submitted false, misleading or inaccurate information or has contravened any provision of a federal or provincial law or regulation that is relevant to the service provided by the organization or institution; or (c)either the Government of Canada or the organization or institution has terminated the service agreement.

(7)The results of an evaluation of language proficiency by a designated organization or institution using an approved language test are conclusive evidence of an applicant’s language proficiency in respect of the federal skilled worker class, the Canadian experience class, the federal skilled trades class or the Atlantic immigration class, as the case may be.