Unlike other Canadian provinces and territories, Québec does not run an immigrant nominee program. However, it does run the Québec Experience Class (PEQ) program, which provides opportunities for foreign students who have been studying in Québec and for temporary foreign workers who have work experience in Québec to apply for permanent residency.  Québec also runs a Skills Worker Program (QSWP) which may provide an alternative entry route to residence in Québec.  The requirements for all these categories of applicants are detailed below.

Skilled Worker Program 

Applications to this program will be judged on selection criteria as follows:

Education                                                    up to 14 points

Training                                                        up to 16 points

Job offer                                                       up to 10 points

Work experience                                      up to 8 points

Age                                                                 up to 16 points

Language proficiency                               up to 22 points

Links to Québec                                         up to 8 points

Spouse /partner qualification               up to 17 points

Accompanying children                          up to 8 points

Financial self-sufficiency                         1 point

Applicants must score 49 points on this system if they are single and 57 points if married or with a common-law partner. Applicants who pass this stage will then have to undertake medical and criminal record checks, after which they will be offered a Québec Selection Certificate (CSQ) which can then be followed by a Canadian Permanent Resident Visa.

Please note that the Québec Ministry of immigration has declared that the limit for applications up to March 31, 2017 has now been reached

Québec Experience Class

Québec Experience Class: Foreign Students 

Overseas students who have been studying Québec are eligible to apply to the Québec Experience Class program. Applicants must have taken a degree or diploma at a university or college recognised by the Québec Ministry of Education not less than three years previously. Applicants must have undertaken a minimum of two years/1800 hours of study in Québec and show successful completion of an advanced intermediate level French course at a recognised Québec institution (unless the degree/diploma were taken in French). Applicants who are successful will be awarded a Québec Selection Certificate allowing them to immigrate to Québec: they should then submit this to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to apply for a permanent resident visa.

Québec Experience Class: Temporary Foreign Workers 

Temporary foreign workers in Québec may apply for a Québec Selection Certificate (which can later be converted to a permanent residence visa) if they have been working in Québec in a professional, skilled or managerial occupation for at least one of the previous two years before application. When the worker applies they must be in employment and have the legal right to live and work in Québec. They must also prove, if they did not qualify from a French-speaking educational institution, that they have successfully completed, at a Québec institution, an advanced intermediate level French course. Alternatively they can take a language test or show that the professional body that governs their profession in Québec is satisfied that they have passed their language requirements.