Getting a Canada or UK visa from Côte d'Ivoire

Which route fits you

Canada: Express Entry. No job offer needed. You are scored on age, education, language and work history, and the top scores are invited. Strong results in all four French skills add extra points, and more if you also have moderate English results (IRCC: Express Entry for French-speaking skilled workers). Some invitation rounds are held only for candidates with a fairly high level of French in all four skills (category-based selection).

Canada: Mobilité francophone. With a job offer anywhere in Canada outside Quebec and intermediate spoken and listened French, you can get a work permit without your employer applying for a labour market impact assessment. Almost every occupation qualifies; only primary agriculture jobs at the lower skill levels are excluded (IRCC: eligibility).

Canada: Quebec. Quebec chooses its own skilled workers, outside Express Entry: you apply to Quebec, then to IRCC for permanent residence (IRCC: Quebec-selected skilled workers).

UK: Skilled Worker. You need a licensed sponsor first, then a salary at whichever is higher, the general threshold or the going rate for your job. Care worker recruitment from overseas has closed; nobody can sell you that route.

→ Work out your Canadian points: two minutes, no account needed to see your score.

What it costs from Côte d'Ivoire

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

On top of these come your language tests, your credential assessment and, for the UK, the TB test paid to the clinic.

What is different for Côte d'Ivoire

Your police certificate can be requested online. The document is the Extrait de casier judiciaire, Bulletin n°3. Ivorian citizens in the country apply through the government portal servicepublic.gouv.ci with their original birth certificate. If you live abroad, you go through the nearest embassy or consulate of Côte d'Ivoire instead (IRCC Côte d'Ivoire).

Your French test must be TEF Canada or TCF Canada. Those are the only French tests IRCC accepts; for English it is CELPIP, IELTS General Training or PTE Core (IRCC: language tests). Schooling in French does not replace the test, and results expire.

For the UK you must prove your English. Côte d'Ivoire is not on the list of majority-English-speaking countries (Appendix English Language), so you need a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider. The Home Office publishes the approved centres outside the UK; if there is none where you live, you travel to sit it (gov.uk: SELT).

A TB test is required for longer UK stays. The only approved clinic is IOM Abidjan, in Cocody; certificates from other clinics are refused (TB testing in Côte d'Ivoire).

Your degree needs assessing for Canada. Education from outside Canada needs an Educational Credential Assessment from a designated organisation, such as World Education Services, the Comparative Education Service of the University of Toronto or IQAS (IRCC: ECA). Check how your chosen body wants transcripts sent before you ask your university.

Biometrics. Book only through the official finders: IRCC and gov.uk.