Canada’s immigration department (IRCC) never looks at your overall IELTS band. It converts each of your four General Training scores to a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level on its own, and those four levels decide whether you are eligible and how many points you get. The IELTS to CLB conversion chart below comes straight from IRCC’s pages on canada.ca, checked in October 2026. It also covers the scores the official chart leaves out, which are the ones that catch people.
If you are still working out what score to aim for, read our guide to the minimum IELTS score for Canada Express Entry alongside this one. This post is the lookup table. That one is the strategy.
The IELTS to CLB Conversion Chart
Each row shows the IELTS General Training score you need in a skill to reach that CLB level.
| CLB level | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLB 10+ | 8.5-9.0 | 8.0-9.0 | 7.5-9.0 | 7.5-9.0 |
| CLB 9 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| CLB 8 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| CLB 7 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| CLB 6 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| CLB 5 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| CLB 4 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Source: IRCC, Language requirements: language test equivalency charts and Express Entry: Language test results. Both pages give the same figures.
Three things stand out:
- Listening is the hardest skill to convert. CLB 9 needs 8.0 in Listening but only 7.0 in the other three skills.
- Reading is the easiest. A 6.5 in Reading is CLB 8, and 3.5 is enough for CLB 4.
- Writing and Speaking share the same thresholds at every level.
The chart stops at CLB 4. IRCC’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) gives 0 points for anything below CLB 4, and the lowest minimum in any Express Entry programme is CLB 4 (Reading and Writing for Federal Skilled Trades).
Scores That Fall Between Two Rows
IELTS reports scores in half bands, but the IRCC chart doesn’t list every half band. Listening, for example, jumps from 6.0 at CLB 7 to 7.5 at CLB 8. Each row is the score needed to reach that level, so a Listening score of 6.5 or 7.0 hasn’t reached CLB 8 and stays at CLB 7.
Here is the chart turned around, so you can look up any score directly. The in-between scores are in bold.
| Your IELTS score | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.5 or 9.0 | CLB 10+ | CLB 10+ | CLB 10+ | CLB 10+ |
| 8.0 | CLB 9 | CLB 10+ | CLB 10+ | CLB 10+ |
| 7.5 | CLB 8 | CLB 9 | CLB 10+ | CLB 10+ |
| 7.0 | CLB 7 | CLB 9 | CLB 9 | CLB 9 |
| 6.5 | CLB 7 | CLB 8 | CLB 8 | CLB 8 |
| 6.0 | CLB 7 | CLB 7 | CLB 7 | CLB 7 |
| 5.5 | CLB 6 | CLB 6 | CLB 6 | CLB 6 |
| 5.0 | CLB 5 | CLB 6 | CLB 5 | CLB 5 |
| 4.5 | CLB 4 | CLB 5 | CLB 4 | CLB 4 |
| 4.0 | Below CLB 4 | CLB 5 | CLB 4 | CLB 4 |
| 3.5 | Below CLB 4 | CLB 4 | Below CLB 4 | Below CLB 4 |
Two of these matter most in practice:
- Listening 7.0 is still CLB 7. Moving from 6.0 to 7.0 in Listening gains you nothing. You need 7.5 for CLB 8.
- Reading 7.5 is still CLB 9. Going from 7.0 to 7.5 in Reading gains you nothing either. CLB 10 needs 8.0.
Before you book a retake, check whether the half band you’re chasing actually crosses a line on this table.
What Each CLB Level Is Worth
The CLB level per skill does two jobs. It decides whether you meet a programme’s minimum, and it sets your CRS points for that skill. The figures below are from IRCC’s Express Entry language page and its CRS criteria page, for English as your first official language.
| CLB level (per skill) | Minimum for | CRS points per skill, no spouse | CRS points per skill, with spouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLB 10+ | 34 | 32 | |
| CLB 9 | 31 | 29 | |
| CLB 8 | 23 | 22 | |
| CLB 7 | Federal Skilled Worker (all four skills); Canadian Experience Class, TEER 0 or 1 jobs (all four skills) | 17 | 16 |
| CLB 6 | 9 | 8 | |
| CLB 5 | Canadian Experience Class, TEER 2 or 3 jobs (all four skills); Federal Skilled Trades (Speaking and Listening) | 6 | 6 |
| CLB 4 | Federal Skilled Trades (Reading and Writing) | 6 | 6 |
| Below CLB 4 | 0 | 0 |
The biggest jumps are from CLB 6 to CLB 7 (8 points per skill for a single applicant) and from CLB 8 to CLB 9 (another 8). The step from CLB 9 to CLB 10 adds only 3.
Your Lowest Skill Sets the Ceiling
Each skill converts on its own, but your weakest one limits you in two ways.
First, eligibility. The Federal Skilled Worker Program needs CLB 7 in all four skills. An IELTS result of Listening 8.5, Reading 8.0, Writing 7.5 and Speaking 5.5 is CLB 10 in three skills and CLB 6 in one, so it does not meet the minimum.
Second, skill transferability points. The CRS has two language brackets here: CLB 7 or more in all four skills with at least one under CLB 9, and CLB 9 or more in all four skills. For combinations such as education plus language, the first bracket is capped at 25 points and the second at 50. One skill at CLB 8 keeps you in the lower bracket, however strong the other three are.
Here is how that plays out for a single applicant:
| Skill | First test | CLB | CRS points | Retake | CLB | CRS points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listening | 7.0 | 7 | 17 | 8.0 | 9 | 31 |
| Reading | 7.5 | 9 | 31 | 7.5 | 9 | 31 |
| Writing | 6.5 | 8 | 23 | 7.0 | 9 | 31 |
| Speaking | 7.0 | 9 | 31 | 7.0 | 9 | 31 |
| Total | 102 | 124 |
The retake gains 22 points from language alone, and it moves the candidate into the CLB 9 transferability bracket. Listening went up by a full band and Writing by half a band. The other two skills didn’t change at all.
Rules That Can Make an IELTS Result Unusable
The chart only helps if IRCC accepts the test you took. Check these before you book.
IELTS General Training only. IRCC’s list of designated tests names the IELTS General Training test as the one accepted “for immigration and citizenship purposes”. IELTS Academic is not on the list, and the Express Entry page says you must take the General Training option. An Academic result can’t be converted to CLB for Express Entry, however high it is.
No One Skill Retake for Express Entry. IRCC does not accept IELTS One Skill Retake for Express Entry. According to IRCC, the Economic Mobility Pathway Pilot is the only programme that accepts it for immigration. To lift one weak skill, you have to sit the full test again.
Two-year validity. For Express Entry, your results must be less than two years old when you complete your profile and when you submit your application for permanent residence. If you apply with expired results, IRCC says it will refuse the application.
IELTS is not the only option. IRCC also accepts CELPIP-General and PTE Core for English. CELPIP-General levels match CLB levels one to one (CELPIP 9 is CLB 9), which some candidates find easier to plan around. Our IELTS vs CELPIP comparison covers which test suits which kind of candidate.
Final Thought
Your Test Report Form already tells you almost everything. Write the CLB level next to each of your four scores using the lookup table above, then circle the lowest one. That skill is your next target, and the chart shows exactly which half band gets you to the next level.
For many candidates the weak skill is Writing, and the gap between 6.5 and 7.0 usually comes down to a handful of fixable habits. Our guide to IELTS General Training writing tricks is a good place to start closing it.