Passer le TEF Canada en France: Alliance française de Paris and the other approved centres

Living in France, studying on a student visa, or on a PVT and aiming for Canadian PR? You don’t need to cross an ocean for your French test. TEF Canada is run all over France, and the best known centre is the Alliance française de Paris. This guide covers how Paris books, what it costs, and how to find another approved centre if Paris has no date that suits you.

€245

TEF Canada at AF Paris, 4 tests

~10 days

To the digital certificate

18+

Minimum age at this centre

The four tests are listening (40 min), reading (60 min), writing (60 min, two subjects) and speaking (15 min, two subjects). The full breakdown is in the TEF Canada exam format. IRCC accepts the result for Express Entry exactly as if you had taken it in Canada. To practise listening and reading, try a TEF practice test.

1. 1Create an account on alliancefr.orgDo this before you need a date. The site says you must log in to see more availability: logged out, you see few or no dates.
2. 2Open “(TEF) Canada french test exam”It’s in the online course catalogue under exams. Check you’re on TEF Canada, not TEF IRN.
3. 3Choose a session and pay online€245. Use your name exactly as it appears on the ID you’ll bring.
4. 4Bring original ID to every testThe centre checks an original identity document at each part of the exam, not only at check-in.
5. 5Get your certificateThe attestation is digital and arrives within about 10 days. Enter the scores in your Express Entry profile.

Lots of places. CCI Paris Île-de-France, which runs the TEF, has an official centre map (francais.cci-paris-idf.fr/candidat, linked in the sources) where you pick “TEF Canada”, type “France” and see approved centres with their upcoming sessions. When we searched on 22 October 2026 it listed dozens of TEF Canada centres in mainland France and overseas. Some examples:

Each centre is independent: it sets its own price, dates and booking method, and it is your only contact for registration, your convocation and any cancellation. The map lets you pre-register with some centres directly. Before you pay, confirm three things with the centre: that the session is TEF Canada (not TEF IRN or TEF), that all four tests are on the same day, and the price.

Yes, at centres approved by France Éducation international, which runs the TCF. AF Paris doesn’t offer it, and we don’t track a TCF Canada centre in France. To find one, use France Éducation international’s TCF centre locator and contact the centre: each one sets its own dates, fees and rules. Ask specifically for TCF Canada, since many French centres mainly run the TCF IRN for naturalisation. The two exams differ in format, not in value: compare them in TEF vs TCF Canada.

There’s no TEF Canada centre in the UK that we know of, so UK candidates often come to Paris by Eurostar. If TCF Canada suits you better, the Institut français in London runs it on paper: see TCF Canada in London. From elsewhere in Europe, the centre finder ranks the centres we track by distance.

Paris is one of the fastest centres for results, which helps when an Express Entry deadline is close. Work backwards from the date you need scores in your profile, and leave a margin for a session that sells out before you get to it.

If you’re choosing between Paris and a centre elsewhere in France, compare the total cost, not only the fee: train tickets and a night in Paris can cost more than the exam. A local centre with a date two weeks later can still win if its results arrive in time. The full cost picture is in what French for Canada PR really costs.

At AF Paris, the digital certificate comes within about 10 days (the centre’s general exams page says within two weeks). Results are valid for 2 years from the test date. If you miss your target, AF Paris lets you retake after 20 days, whichever TEF version you took; other centres may apply different gaps, so check the retake rules.