There is no single worldwide DELF or DALF exam date. France Éducation international (FEI) writes the papers, but the sessions themselves are run by accredited exam centres, and each country works to its own timetable. This page explains how the FEI calendar for centres in France is built, how centres in India publish their own dates (with the Alliance Française de Delhi calendar as a worked example), and the registration and results rules that apply everywhere. If you are preparing for DELF B2, the Myndaq DELF B2 course follows the four papers these sessions test.
Who decides when you can sit DELF or DALF
FEI's candidate FAQ is direct about this: FEI is not an exam venue and does not organise DELF-DALF sessions itself. You register with an accredited centre, and FEI's practical-information page says that centre gives you the registration cost, the dates and the exam location.
That creates two different situations:
- Centres in France follow a national calendar that FEI publishes as a PDF, year by year.
- Centres outside France do not share that calendar. FEI's own instruction for sessions abroad is to contact the centre closest to you, because schedules differ from country to country.
So "when is the DELF" has one answer for France and a centre-by-centre answer everywhere else. For what the exam contains and how it is scored, read the DELF and DALF French exam guide; this page deals only with timing.
How the calendar works for exam centres in France
France Education international publishes one calendar a year - "Calendrier des sessions d'examen du DELF-DALF en France" - listing that year's tout public sessions. Two things about it hold steady, and they are what you actually need before you look up a date.
First, each session runs over three consecutive days, and the level is fixed to the day:
- Tuesday - DELF A1 at 10:00 and DELF A2 at 14:00
- Wednesday - DELF B1 at 10:00 and DELF B2 at 14:00
- Thursday - DALF C1 at 9:00 and DALF C2 at 14:30
So a DELF B2 candidate in France sits on the Wednesday of whichever session they pick. The number of realistic dates available to you in a year is the number of sessions, not the number of days printed on the calendar.
Second, the calendar carries roughly ten tout public sessions spread across the year, with gaps in some months rather than an even monthly rhythm. Which months are missing changes from year to year, so read the current calendar instead of assuming last year's pattern repeats.
Those three days cover the written papers. The speaking test does not always fall inside them, which the section below explains.
DELF junior and DELF Prim in France
The same PDF gives separate sessions for younger candidates, and there are far fewer of them than of the tout public sessions:
- DELF junior - about three sessions a year, clustered in the late spring and again in late autumn, with A1, A2 and B1 in the morning (typically 9:30) and B2 in the early afternoon
- DELF Prim - about two sessions a year, both inside the late-spring window, with A1.1 and A1 in the morning and A2 in the afternoon
Separately, the Ministry of Education publishes a Bulletin officiel note each year setting DELF in French schools (A1, A2 and B1) for two dates in that same late-spring window, organised by the académie examination services rather than by a commercial centre. If you are not sitting through a participating school, those dates are not yours to use and you go through the tout public sessions instead.
When the oral takes place in France
The calendar only fixes the group papers. Its footnote says the dates and times of the individual tests, meaning the speaking paper, are set by each centre, under three conditions:
- the oral must start after the group papers of the same exam, on the same day at the earliest
- it must fit within a maximum of 30 consecutive days
- it must finish by the 15th of the month after the session month
Read together, those three conditions put the oral in a window that opens on the day of that session's written papers and shuts on the 15th of the following month, and is never longer than 30 days. So a March session's oral falls somewhere between the March papers and mid-April. Your convocation from the centre gives the exact slot.
How to find DELF and DALF dates in India
FEI's list of exam centres for India names a central managing body in New Delhi, the French cooperation and cultural action service (language sector), reachable through the Institut français en Inde. It lists 16 exam centres:
- Alliances Françaises in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai (Madras), Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata (du Bengale), Lucknow, Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Panjim-Goa, Pondicherry, Pune and Trivandrum
- the Institut français en Inde in New Delhi
The France calendar above does not apply to these centres. Each one publishes its own sessions, registration windows and fees, so start from the website of the centre you can actually travel to.
A worked example - Alliance Française de Delhi
The Alliance Française de Delhi publishes a calendar of its own each year, and its shape is steady enough to plan against before the current version appears. Read that shape rather than memorising dates:
- Four tout public sessions a year, roughly quarterly - one each in the first, second, third and fourth quarters.
- Two DELF junior sessions, sitting in the gaps between tout public ones.
- Registration is short: about two to two and a half weeks, and it closes roughly two weeks before the first written paper. This is the number that catches people out, because it is far tighter than the month or more that other French-exam calendars allow.
- The written papers run across one working week, with most levels given a day of their own; C1 and C2 usually share a day.
- The oral window can open before the written papers, not only after them.
- Results follow roughly four to seven weeks after the last written paper, so a session late in one year is reported early in the next.
Three things stand out when you compare this with France. Most levels have their own day rather than sitting inside a single Tuesday-to-Thursday block. The oral window can open before the written papers instead of after them. And registration closes on a two-week margin rather than a month. The same calendar carries the fees: at the time of checking, the external-candidate fee for DELF B2 was ₹13,263 including 18% GST, and the fee is revised along with the calendar.
Every Indian centre sets this independently, so treat Delhi's shape as an illustration of the kind of calendar to expect, not as a schedule any other centre follows - and do not assume one year's months repeat in the next. Open your own centre's current calendar and read four things off it: when registration opens, when it closes, which days the papers fall on, and when results are promised.
Other countries
The pattern is the same elsewhere: a national coordination body, and centres that choose their own sessions. Canada's DELF-DALF site, run by the French Embassy, says the country offers three DELF tout public sessions, four schools or junior sessions and one or two DELF Prim sessions each year. It adds that each centre decides whether to take part in a given session, so you still have to confirm with your nearest centre. FEI's worldwide centre list is the place to find the accredited centres in any country. If your goal is Canadian immigration rather than a diploma, compare the tests in the TEF Canada and TCF Canada guide before you book.
Registration windows as a rule
FEI publishes no universal registration deadline, and its candidate rights and responsibilities page puts the timing on you. As a candidate you must:
- register within your centre's registration period and pay the fee within the period it sets
- choose the version that fits your profile - tout public or Pro for older teenagers and adults, junior or scolaire for secondary pupils, Prim for primary pupils
- give your existing candidate number if you have sat DELF or DALF before
- declare any disability when you register, with a medical certificate provided two months before the test date
The same page gives you some protections. You may register for any level without proof of a lower one, at any accredited centre you choose. You may re-enrol for the next session once results are published, and you can sit an exam as many times as you need, provided you have your result before registering again. If you miss the exam for a justified reason and have a medical certificate, you can ask for a refund or a transfer to the next session.
In practice, the "result first" rule decides how quickly you can resit, and whether the next session is reachable comes down to one comparison on the calendar: does your result arrive before the next session's registration closes? At a centre running quarterly sessions and publishing results four to seven weeks after the papers, it normally does, with a few weeks to spare. At a centre with a longer results wait, or with sessions further apart, it may not, and you skip a session. Check both of those dates before you count on an immediate resit.
When results arrive
Under FEI's candidate rights, results must come within a reasonable period, at most two months. Centres release them once the jury has validated them, and a centre can issue a temporary certificate of achievement if you ask for one. At Alliance Française de Delhi, results have been published between about four and seven weeks after the last written paper - inside the two-month maximum, but nowhere near immediate.
If a university or visa deadline depends on your diploma, count backwards: allow two months for the result, then the session itself, then a registration window that may close two weeks before the first paper. In France that arithmetic usually puts the last usable session about three months before the day you need the certificate: two months of results allowance, plus the weeks between the registration close and the session itself. Use the DELF-DALF score calculator during preparation to check you are clearing the pass rule in all four papers.
Quick answers
When are DELF and DALF exams held?
For centres in France, FEI publishes a calendar each year with about ten tout public sessions, each running Tuesday to Thursday with the level fixed to the day. Centres outside France set their own dates.
Are DELF dates in India the same as in France?
No. Indian centres, coordinated from New Delhi, publish their own calendars. Check the centre where you plan to sit.
How long do DELF and DALF results take?
FEI's candidate rights set a maximum of two months. In practice Alliance Française de Delhi has published results roughly four to seven weeks after the written papers.
Can I register directly with France Éducation international?
No. FEI does not run sessions. You register and pay at an accredited exam centre.
Can I resit in the next session?
Yes, once your result has been published. FEI allows as many attempts as you need.
