CELPIP has added new test dates amid high demand following the Canadian government’s announcement of six new pathways to permanent residency for workers and students in Canada.

The English language test provider released details of the new test dates on its Twitter page on April 26 at about 8:18 p.m. EST.

The announcement comes more than a week after its website crashed from an influx of hopeful test-takers who need the results in order to be eligible for the limited-time pathways for essential workers and international student graduates.
The tweet says the test provider will not be posting further test dates on social media, but those who want to follow updates can register for the notification bar on their webpage.

In a written statement to CIC News, Betty Chan, Vice President of Operations explained “…our team has worked tirelessly with our test centre partners to increase availability and to stabilize our systems for an improved registration experience. We are proud that our centralized operations have allowed us to quickly respond to help thousands of hopeful permanent residents secure a test in the past week. With thousands more seats made available earlier today for sittings through until the end of May, we hope to help thousands more. We are committed to adding test sittings in June and beyond, and we strive for equitable distribution across the country.”

Demand for Canada’s six new immigration programs is extremely strong due to the potentially hundreds of thousands of essential workers and international graduates who are expected to submit applications.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has said that it is essential for applicants to the new programs to have all documents at hand when applying, including language test results.

The six streams offer permanent residency pathways to some 90,000 essential workers and international graduates currently in Canada, plus an unlimited number of French-speaking candidates.

Essential workers must have a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of at least 4, while graduates need a CLB of at least 5.

IRCC is accepting applications beginning May 6, and the programs will close on November 5, or whenever quotas are reached.