As competition for permanent residency (PR) intensifies, more international students and temporary residents across Canada are learning French in hopes of improving their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores and securing a path to stay in the country permanently.
One of them is Harbal Deep Sidhu, a 25-year-old from Punjab, India, who recently completed a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Windsor. Despite spending $42,000 on tuition, Sidhu says the real struggle began after graduation. “From the time I’ve graduated, I have seen extreme changes to the laws and regulations to get permanent residency now. The cutoff points are very high, which is very difficult even for a master’s or PhD student,” he told CBC News. To improve his chances, Sidhu is now spending $2,000 monthly on French language training and investing in private tutors and language subscriptions. “We get points for learning French and we can use it in our PR application,” he explained.
Fellow international students share a similar sentiment. Gurasees Singh, studying computer networking at St. Clair College, says French is his most viable option. “Because we are IT professionals, we definitely need to consider French. We won’t be able to get into trades or health pathways. So, French is the only option that becomes feasible for us,” Singh said. His classmate, Abhoo Kabil, is also planning to enroll in French courses after graduation. “Some people I know have succeeded in French. It would be great scope for becoming a permanent resident of this country,” he added.
Immigration lawyer Lou Janssen Dangzalan told CBC News that he has been advising clients to learn French for the past two years. “The most apparent reason being if you pursue French as a second language, essentially you stand to increase your CRS points, and that increases your chances to get drawn,” he explained. Those who meet the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) level 5 or above may also be classified as Francophone under Express Entry, qualifying for category-based selection with lower cutoff scores. “I’ve successfully been trying to convince more and more of the people who consult with me… to pursue French as an alternative, as their ultimate backstop,” Dangzalan said.
For some, French proficiency also opens career doors. Amangel Bhullar, a PhD student at the University of Windsor who became a Canadian citizen in 2022, is studying French to improve her job prospects. “I’m learning French, which could help me open doors in my R&D, research and the government side of things,” she said. “Nowadays, I see a lot of bilingual jobs are coming up… I am learning French to keep myself in the competition.”
French-language schools are seeing this trend unfold firsthand. Simon Goulet, campus director at Collège Boréal in Windsor, noted a “222 per cent increase in registrations of international students” in French as a second language programs across their Ontario campuses. “There’s a lot of interest in learning French for many reasons. Immigration is one, but also there’s a curiosity for official languages as well and a desire to partake in that,” he said. Goulet added that their programs focus heavily on conversation and listening, essential for integration and immigration success.
With the number of temporary residents in Canada estimated at over three million, and only 395,000 PR spots available this year, the race to gain an edge in the immigration process is fierce. For a growing number of newcomers, French could be the key to unlocking their future in Canada.
