How CELPIP dates work: no calendar, a live table
CELPIP has no fixed exam dates. Each test centre posts its own sessions on celpip.ca, and you can book any session with a free seat until one business day before the test. When we read the official India table on 21 October 2026 it listed 1,794 sessions at 48 centres in 40 Indian cities, running Wednesday to Sunday from Friday 23 October 2026 to Sunday 21 February 2027, mostly at 9:30 am or 2:00 pm, all at ₹15,500 for CELPIP-General. The worldwide date finder showed 8,744 sessions the same day. So the question is never "when is the next CELPIP exam". It is "which centre near me has a seat on a day I am ready", and the answer changes every day as seats fill and centres add dates. This page gives you the full picture as of 21 October 2026, city by city, and shows you how to read the live table yourself before you book.
- India: 40 cities, 48 centres, 1,794 sessions, Wednesday to Sunday, no Monday or Tuesday sittings.
- Most common Indian start times: 9:30 am and 2:00 pm. Arrive 45 minutes early; check-in closes 15 minutes before the start.
- LS (citizenship) in India: Kochi and Panjim only, nine sittings, ₹9,500.
- Philippines 7 centres, Nigeria 7, UAE 1 (Dubai), Canada 108 centres in 59 cities.
- Registration closes one business day before the test or when the sitting is full. No walk-ins. No at-home test.
The dates block on this page carries CELPIP's "book any time" pattern rather than single dates, because that is how the test works. For the price of each sitting see our CELPIP fees and booking guide.
India in numbers, read 21 October 2026
CELPIP's own pages disagree about how big the Indian network is. The India landing page says tests are "widely available across India within 2 weeks at 25 test centers in 15 cities". The FAQ lower on the India test-date page still says CELPIP is offered in "Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad". The live table on that same page, which is what you actually book from, listed far more:
| Measure | India table, 21 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Sessions listed | 1,794 (1,785 CELPIP-General, 9 LS) |
| Cities | 40 |
| Centres | 48 |
| First and last listed sitting | Friday 23 October 2026 to Sunday 21 February 2027 |
| Sessions by day | Saturday 498, Friday 393, Thursday 324, Wednesday 302, Sunday 277, Monday and Tuesday none |
| Most common start times | 9:30 am (345 sessions), 2:00 pm (344), 10:00 am (267), 2:30 pm (213) |
| Price | ₹15,500 for every General session; ₹9,500 for LS |
| Sold out | 1 session (Hyderabad) |
Two cautions. A city whose dates stop early, such as Chandigarh (31 October) or Patan (8 November), may simply not have posted its next block yet, so check again rather than assuming the centre has closed. And most centres had dates only to December 2026; only Bathinda, Patiala, Jamnagar, Kozhikode, New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram listed anything in 2027.
Every Indian city with CELPIP dates
This is the complete list of cities in the official India table on 21 October 2026, grouped by state. "Days" are the weekdays that city's sittings fell on; "start times" are the two most frequent. Centre names are as CELPIP prints them.
| State | City | Centre(s) | Days | Usual start times | Dates listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punjab | Bathinda | Cognibench Test Services | Wed to Sat | 9:30 am, 2:00 pm | 66, to 20 Feb 2027 |
| Punjab | Patiala | Vision Language Experts | Wed to Sat | 9:30 am, 1:30 pm | 66, to 20 Feb 2027 |
| Punjab | Mohali | Rattan Group of Institutions | Fri to Sun | 9:30 am, 2:00 pm | 19, to 27 Dec |
| Punjab | Jalandhar | DAV College | Sat | 9:00 am, 1:00 pm | 8, to 19 Dec |
| Punjab | Ludhiana | Ramgarhia Girls College | Wed, Thu | 10:00 am | 9, 4 Nov to 30 Dec |
| Chandigarh | Chandigarh | Secure-Net Technologies | Wed to Sun | 12:00 pm | 6, to 31 Oct |
| Haryana | Karnal | Shri Sant Ram Memorial Education (SSR College) | Sat, Sun | 10:00 am, 2:30 pm | 11, 21 Nov to 27 Dec |
| Haryana | Gurgaon | Prometric Testing | Sat | 10:00 am | 8, to 19 Dec |
| Delhi | New Delhi | CPS Global; OSS Education | Wed to Sun | 10:00 am, 2:00 pm | 55, to 15 Jan 2027 |
| Uttar Pradesh | Greater Noida | Global Institute of Information Technology | Wed to Sun | 10:00 am, 2:30 pm | 29, to 27 Dec |
| Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | School of Management Sciences | Sat, Sun | 1:00 pm, 10:00 am | 6, to 13 Dec |
| Gujarat | Ahmedabad | Prometric Testing; The English Advantage; Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University | Wed to Sun | 2:30 pm, 9:30 am | 43, to 31 Dec |
| Gujarat | Gandhinagar | Storm Edugo Consulting | Wed to Sun | 2:30 pm, 10:00 am | 31, to 31 Dec |
| Gujarat | Vadodara | Harshiv Consultants | Wed to Sun | 9:30 am, 2:30 pm | 19, to 28 Nov |
| Gujarat | Surat | Bhagwan Mahavir University | Wed to Sun | 10:00 am, 2:00 pm | 39, to 30 Dec |
| Gujarat | Rajkot | Shri Labhubhai Trivedi Institute of Engineering and Technology | Fri to Sun | 10:00 am, 2:00 pm | 21, to 20 Dec |
| Gujarat | Jamnagar | Veer Digital Solutions | Sun | 2:00 pm | 18, to 21 Feb 2027 |
| Gujarat | Mehsana | Akhil Anjana Kelvani Mandal | Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun | 10:30 am, 2:45 pm | 25, to 31 Dec |
| Gujarat | Palanpur | Webplus Digitech | Fri to Sun | 9:00 am, 2:00 pm | 15, to 22 Nov |
| Gujarat | Patan | D.A. Patel Institute of Colleges | Fri to Sun | 10:00 am, 2:30 pm | 9, to 8 Nov |
| Gujarat | Lunawada | Netra Infotech | Wed to Sun | 11:00 am, 3:00 pm | 22, to 21 Nov |
| Kerala | Kochi | Forun Testing and Educational Services | Wed to Sun | 9:30 am, 1:30 pm | 47, to 30 Dec (LS in December) |
| Kerala | Kozhikode | Forun Educational and Testing Services | Wed to Sun | 1:00 pm, 9:00 am | 64, to 22 Jan 2027 |
| Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Marian Engineering College | Wed to Sun | 11:00 am | 87, to 21 Feb 2027 |
| Karnataka | Bengaluru | Prometric Testing; The English Advantage; Pear Academy; Tvaksa Technologies | Wed to Sat | 9:30 am, 2:15 pm | 32, to 31 Dec |
| Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Prometric Testing | Sat | 9:00 am, 1:45 pm | 8, to 19 Dec |
| Puducherry | Puducherry | iLogic Tech | Wed to Sun | 10:00 am | 19, to 21 Nov |
| Telangana | Hyderabad | Prometric Testing; SattvaQ IT Solutions | Wed to Sat | 2:00 pm, 9:00 am | 28, to 24 Dec |
| Andhra Pradesh | Visakhapatnam | SattvaQ IT Solutions | Wed, Fri to Sun | 2:00 pm | 18, to 23 Dec |
| Andhra Pradesh | Rajahmundry | SattvaQ IT Solutions | Wed | 2:00 pm | 1, on 28 Oct |
| Maharashtra | Mumbai | Prometric Testing (Lab 2); The English Advantage | Wed to Sat | 2:00 pm, 9:15 am | 37, to 31 Dec |
| Maharashtra | Pune | iConcept Technologies | Wed to Sun | 11:00 am, 3:00 pm | 28, to 31 Dec |
| Goa | Panjim | Global Infotech | Wed to Sun | 9:30 am, 2:30 pm | 19, to 29 Nov (LS in Oct and Nov) |
| Rajasthan | Jaipur | Yagyavalkya Institute of Technology | Fri, Sat | 12:00 pm | 15, to 19 Dec |
| Rajasthan | Udaipur | Vidya Bhawan Govindram Seksaria Teacher College | Sat, Sun | 9:30 am, 2:30 pm | 19, to 27 Dec |
| Madhya Pradesh | Indore | Patel College of Science and Technology | Fri to Sun | 9:30 am, 2:00 pm | 27, to 27 Dec |
| Uttarakhand | Dehradun | Uttaranchal University | Wed to Sat | 10:00 am, 2:30 pm | 16, to 30 Dec |
| Chhattisgarh | Naya Raipur | ITM University | Wed | 11:00 am | 1, on 28 Oct |
| West Bengal | Kolkata | Prometric Testing | Sat | 1:00 pm | 5, to 19 Dec |
| Assam | Guwahati | NEF Law College | Wed, Fri, Sat | 1:45 pm, 12:00 pm | 10, to 19 Dec |
Choosing a centre: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala
Punjab and Chandigarh
Six places, and they behave very differently. Bathinda and Patiala are the reliable ones: two sittings a day, Wednesday to Saturday, 66 test days each, listed all the way to 20 February 2027. Mohali is the weekend option (Friday to Sunday). Jalandhar runs Saturdays only, Ludhiana Wednesdays and Thursdays only from 4 November. Chandigarh, the city most coaching sites still name first, had only six single sittings left, all in October. If you work a Monday to Friday job in Doaba or Malwa, a Saturday at Jalandhar, Bathinda or Patiala, or a Sunday at Mohali, avoids a day off.
Haryana and Delhi NCR
Karnal lists weekend sittings from 21 November. Gurgaon (Prometric) runs Saturdays at 10:00 am. New Delhi has two centres, CPS Global at Janakpuri and OSS Education at Wazirpur, with 55 test days to mid January, and Greater Noida adds another 29. For Rohtak, Sonipat or Panipat, New Delhi and Karnal are the nearest cities in the table.
Gujarat
Gujarat has more CELPIP cities than any other state in the table: ten. Ahmedabad has three centres and 43 test days; Gandhinagar, Surat and Mehsana each list 25 or more. North Gujarat is unusually well served (Palanpur, Patan, Mehsana, Lunawada), but several of those blocks end in November, so check for new dates. Saurashtra has Rajkot (Friday to Sunday) and Jamnagar (Sundays only, into February).
Kerala
All three Kerala centres run Wednesday to Sunday. Thiruvananthapuram had the most test days of any Indian city (87, one late-morning sitting a day); Kozhikode had 64 and Kochi 47, each with two sittings on most days. Kochi is also one of the two Indian centres with LS sittings.
Whatever centre you pick, the test is the same computer-delivered test, scored by the same pool of trained raters, who must be resident in Canada at the time of scoring per the results page. Choose on travel time, day of week and whether a morning or afternoon start suits you, not on rumours that one centre "marks easier". The scoring is explained on our CELPIP scoring and CLB chart.
The Philippines, Nigeria and the UAE
| Country | Cities and centres (21 October 2026) | Pattern | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philippines | Manila (Magsaysay Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts), Makati (Ateneo de Manila University, Salcedo Campus), Cebu City (CO Train), and 9.0 Niner centres in Bacolod, Dagupan, Imus (Cavite) and Cagayan de Oro | Manila on Fridays and Saturdays; the 9.0 Niner centres on Wednesdays at 9:00 am; Makati and Cebu two Saturdays each. 54 sessions to 19 December. | PHP 10,000 |
| Nigeria | Lagos (Dragnet Prometric Test Center), Ojo (LASU CBT18), Ibadan and Kano (Edugrade Services), Abuja (Dragnet), Asaba, Port Harcourt (Topscan Inspections) | Wednesday to Sunday, mostly 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. 342 sessions to 31 December, 111 already sold out. | NGN 229,000 |
| United Arab Emirates | Dubai only (TEPTH) | Saturdays at 5:00 pm, one Sunday at 6:00 pm. 10 sessions to 27 December. | AED 1,200 in October, AED 1,100 from 7 November |
Filipino candidates have one option nobody else has: CELPIP's contact FAQ says you can register and pay in person at the Magsaysay Center in Manila. Everywhere else registration is online only.
Nigerian candidates face the tightest seats we saw anywhere. In Port Harcourt 59 of 72 sessions were sold out, in Lagos 41 of 58, in Abuja 10 of 18. Asaba, Ibadan and Kano still had open seats. If Lagos is full on the dates you need, Ibadan, Asaba or Kano may be the faster route to a seat.
Candidates in the UAE have a single Saturday-evening sitting a week in Dubai. Your passport booklet, refugee travel document or Emirates ID is accepted as ID in the UAE, per the test-day page. There was no Abu Dhabi or Sharjah centre in the table.
Canada, and LS sittings for citizenship
Canada is where most CELPIP sittings happen. The Canada table on 21 October 2026 listed 5,629 sessions at 108 centres in 59 cities, with more on Saturdays (1,524) and Sundays (1,410) than on any weekday; 244 were already sold out. Toronto (420 sessions), Vancouver (392), Winnipeg (282), Calgary (271) and Edmonton (269) had the most, and Surrey (245) and Brampton (197) were not far behind.
For citizenship applicants taking LS, the table listed 332 LS sessions in 45 Canadian cities, at CAD 199 at most sittings to December and CAD 206 in January and February 2027. Toronto (39), Edmonton (35), Vancouver (34) and Calgary (24) had the most; Surrey had 17 and Brampton 8. LS seats are a small share of each centre's sessions, so if you need a Saturday LS sitting in Brampton, look several weeks ahead. If you are a Punjabi-speaking permanent resident preparing for LS, the Speaking half is identical to CELPIP-General's eight tasks, so the CELPIP Speaking guide and our task-by-task templates apply in full.
Using the official date finder
CELPIP gives you two doors to the same data: the worldwide Find a Test Date page and a page per country, such as celpip.ca/country/india. Both show 10 rows at a time with filters above.
- Set the test type first. Tick General or LS, not both, or LS sittings will be lost among General ones.
- Choose region and city. In India the region is the state. If your city shows nothing, try the neighbouring state: Mohali, Chandigarh and Karnal are all within reach of each other.
- Use "Show Available Tests Only". Sold-out sessions can stay in the list with a "Sold Out" label in place of the register button.
- Pick AM or PM if it matters. Morning and afternoon sittings at the same centre are separate sessions with separate seats.
- Press "Register Now" on the row you want. It opens the registration system for that session. You will need your passport details ready.
Registration for a sitting closes one business day before the test, or as soon as it fills, per the contact page FAQ, and CELPIP warns that "test dates, times, and locations are subject to change", with any change sent to you by email.
Arrival, ID and the clock on test day
The test-day information page sets rules that are stricter than most candidates expect:
| Rule | What CELPIP says |
|---|---|
| Arrival | Arrive 45 minutes before the start. Check-in closes 15 minutes before; after that you are refused entry with no refund or transfer. |
| ID in India, the Philippines and Nigeria | Original, valid passport booklet or refugee travel document, the same one you registered with. No photocopies. Nothing else is on CELPIP's list for these countries, so an Aadhaar card or a driving licence will not do. |
| ID in the UAE | Passport booklet, refugee travel document or Emirates ID. |
| Photo | Taken at check-in and printed on your score report. |
| In the room | Only your ID. Headset, microphone, pen and notepaper are provided. No food or drink. |
| Noise | "You may be able to hear other test takers speaking or typing." This is a standard test-room condition. |
| Breaks | The clock does not stop for a washroom break; more than 20 minutes away from your workstation ends your test. |
| Problems | Report them to the centre staff at once, and in your CELPIP Account within 24 hours. |
CELPIP-General takes under three hours and LS about 70 minutes, per the overview page. With 45 minutes of check-in, a 9:30 am General sitting means arriving by 8:45 am and leaving around early afternoon. The shared-room noise matters most for Speaking, because other candidates may be recording their answers while you record yours. Practise speaking with background noise: read a passage aloud in TalkDrill read-aloud practice with a radio or television on, so the room does not throw you. The full room layout and section timings are on our CELPIP format page.
Picking a date that fits your deadline
Results arrive in your CELPIP Account 2 to 4 business days after the test, per the results page. Business days exclude weekends and holidays. Work backwards from the day you need the scores, and leave room for a second sitting, because CELPIP lets you sit again after five calendar days.
TalkDrill worked example (ours, not a real candidate)
A staff nurse in Ernakulam wants her CELPIP-General scores in hand by Friday 4 December 2026 to finish her Express Entry profile. The Kochi centre had sittings at 9:30 am and 1:30 pm on Saturdays 14 and 28 November. Sitting on 28 November, 2 to 4 business days puts her results between Tuesday 1 and Thursday 3 December: enough only if everything goes right. Sitting on 14 November puts results between Tuesday 17 and Thursday 19 November, and if one skill falls short she still has 28 November for a second attempt. She books 14 November, at least eight days ahead, so the seven-day cancellation and transfer window still protects her.
Then make the weeks before the test count. A practical route:
- Sit a timed diagnostic of all eight Speaking tasks from our CELPIP Speaking practice bank and score yourself with the level descriptors.
- Fix your first-language patterns: Punjabi, Hindi and Gujarati speakers, Tagalog and Nigerian English speakers.
- Follow the 30-day CLB 9 plan, with one spoken task a day on TalkDrill.
- Book when two full mocks, a week apart, both reach your target, then check the live table for your city.
Every other part of this guide, from format to writing, is on the CELPIP hub, and other exams' dates are on our exam dates calendar.