Getting a Canada or UK visa from Senegal

Which route fits you

Canada: Express Entry. No job offer needed. You are scored on age, education, language and work history, and the highest scores are invited to apply. French is where Senegalese applicants gain ground: strong results in all four French skills add extra points on top of your language score, and more if you also have moderate English results (IRCC: Express Entry for French-speaking skilled workers). French-language proficiency is also one of the categories IRCC uses for targeted rounds, which invite only candidates with a fairly high level in all four French skills (category-based selection).

Canada: Mobilité francophone. A work permit for French speakers with a job offer anywhere in Canada outside Quebec. The employer does not need a labour market impact assessment, the job can be in any skill category except primary agriculture at the lower levels, and you need an intermediate level of spoken and listened French (IRCC: eligibility).

Canada: Quebec. Express Entry does not cover Quebec. Quebec selects its own skilled workers, so you apply to Quebec first and only then to IRCC for permanent residence (IRCC: Quebec-selected skilled workers). If Montreal is the goal, that is a separate process with its own rules.

UK: Skilled Worker. You need a licensed employer to sponsor you first. Then the salary rule applies: you must be paid whichever is higher, the general threshold or the going rate for your specific job. Care worker recruitment from overseas has closed; an agent selling you a UK care job cannot deliver that route.

→ Work out your Canadian points: about two minutes, and it shows how much your French moves the score before you pay for a test.

What it costs from Senegal

Fees are set in Canadian dollars and pounds, and your bank converts them at its own rate on the day you pay.

Add the cost of your language test, your credential assessment and, for the UK, the TB test, which you pay to the clinic directly.

What is different for Senegal

Your French test has to be TEF Canada or TCF Canada. IRCC accepts only those two for French, and CELPIP, IELTS General Training or PTE Core for English (IRCC: language tests). A DELF or DALF diploma, or a degree taught in French, does not replace them. Results expire, so time the test for when you are ready to create your profile.

For the UK you must prove your English. Senegal is not on the list of majority-English-speaking countries whose nationals meet the requirement automatically (Appendix English Language). You need a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider; the Home Office publishes the list of approved centres outside the UK, and if your country has none you have to travel to take it (gov.uk: SELT).

Your police certificate is the Bulletin n°3. It is issued by the tribunal for the region where you live in Senegal. You apply in person with a certified copy of your identity card or birth certificate and pay the fee (IRCC Senegal). IRCC describes no route from abroad, so if you have already left, check with Senegalese consular services early or arrange for someone in Senegal to help.

A TB test is required for longer UK stays. There is one approved clinic, the Cabinet de radiologie Dr. Pineau - Dr. Konde in Dakar, and the Home Office does not accept a certificate from any other clinic (TB testing in Senegal).

Your degree needs assessing for Canada. Education completed outside Canada needs an Educational Credential Assessment from a designated organisation, such as World Education Services, the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada or IQAS (IRCC: ECA). Each body sets its own rules for how your university sends transcripts, so read them before you request anything.

Biometrics. Both countries take fingerprints and a photo at a visa application centre. Use only the official finders: IRCC and gov.uk.