What CELPIP Costs, and the Cheaper Test Most People Cannot Use

CELPIP-General LS costs about a third less than CELPIP-General — and for almost everyone reading this, it is the wrong test. IRCC's own bulletin says the CELPIP-General LS test "is accepted by IRCC for citizenship purposes only", while CELPIP-General results "are accepted by IRCC for both immigration and citizenship purposes".

If you are applying for permanent residence, the cheaper option is not an option. The Express Entry language testing page says so flatly: "You must take the CELPIP-General test."

So this is not a money-saving page. It is a page about not paying twice.

The failure

The failure is booking on price. You see two tests, one costs roughly CAD 95 less, and nothing on the booking screen forces you to work out which one your application accepts. If you book LS and your program needs CELPIP-General, the cheaper sitting buys you nothing — you pay the full fee again, and you wait for a second test date.

The reverse mistake is quieter and still costs money. It is real, and it is further down this page.

The published fees, as of 24 August 2026

Every figure in that table is as published on celpip.ca on 24 August 2026, and nothing more than that. Fees change. Before you book, open the region page and read the current number off Paragon's own site rather than trusting this one.

One honest caveat, because it matters for how much weight to put on those numbers: the most recent fee-change notice found is the October 2024 one. No 2025 or 2026 fee-change notice was found, so it cannot be confirmed that the CAD figures are unchanged since that October 2024 change. They were what the site showed on the date above. That is the whole claim.

Fees are not the same in every country

The October 2024 fee-change notice lists other currencies alongside CAD 290: MXN 4000, ¥28000 and R$1100.

Read those as what that notice published, not as today's prices — and note that the notice does not label them by test version, so you cannot tell from it which figure applies to CELPIP-General and which, if any, to CELPIP-General LS. If you are testing outside Canada, the number you should act on is the one on your own region's page at the moment you book.

What is not published anywhere official

Competing pages will give you these numbers with total confidence. There is no official source for them, so here they are as gaps:

• Cancellation and no-show refunds. No official refund or rescheduling amount was found beyond the CAD 50 + tax transfer fee. Anyone quoting you a cancellation refund percentage is not quoting Paragon.
• The re-evaluation fee amount. Re-evaluation is a re-mark rather than a retake: it is available within six months, one re-evaluation per component, turnaround approximately 1 to 2 weeks, and the fee is refunded if your Speaking or Writing score increases. The amount of that fee is not published.
• Fees for countries not in the October 2024 notice. That notice covers the currencies listed above. For anywhere else, there is no figure here to give you.

What actually costs you

• Booking LS when your application needs CELPIP-General. IRCC accepts CELPIP-General LS for citizenship purposes only. For Express Entry, IRCC's page says you must take the CELPIP-General test. A cheaper test that your program does not accept costs you the full price of the right one, on top of what you already paid.
• Booking CELPIP-General when only LS is required for citizenship. This is the quiet one. It is about CAD 95 more, and it is a much longer sitting — CELPIP-General runs under 2 hours and 50 minutes, CELPIP-General LS approximately 70 minutes. You sit Reading and Writing, and pay for them, for two components a citizenship language requirement covering speaking and listening will never ask you about. Check the requirement for your own application on IRCC's page before you choose.
• Arriving late. Test day information says "You must arrive 45 MINUTES prior to your test", and that check-in "closes 15 minutes before". Miss that window and the money is gone: "Latecomers will be denied entrance to the test and will NOT be eligible for a refund."
• Bringing the wrong ID — or an ID whose name does not match your registration. Your ID must be original, valid and unexpired, and must match "the registration details you entered during registration, including full name and document number". The accepted list is not the same for both tests. For CELPIP-General for immigration purposes: passport booklet, United States Passport Card, refugee protection claimant document, travel document. For CELPIP-General LS: passport booklet, United States Passport Card, Canadian permanent resident card, travel document. A permanent resident card is on the LS list and not on the immigration-purposes General list — so the document that gets you into one test will not necessarily get you into the other.
• Testing too early for an immigration deadline. Express Entry requires results "less than 2 years old when you complete your Express Entry profile". Citizenship runs the other way: IRCC's guide says "we will accept the previous results even if they have expired". A test sat too early for one purpose can still be perfectly usable for the other — and a test sat too early for an Express Entry profile is a fee you spend again.
• Getting there. CELPIP is "fully computer delivered. However, the test must be completed in person at one of our test centres." There is no at-home option. If the nearest centre is not near you, travel and possibly a night's accommodation are part of what the test costs — no figure is given here, because that one depends entirely on where you live.

Nothing on this page tells you which test to book, and nothing here is immigration advice. The accepted-test rules are IRCC's and they are on IRCC's pages — the bulletin on CELPIP and the Express Entry language testing page. Read them for your own situation before you pay for anything.

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