The Cana­dian Par­lia­ment In Ottawa

Wel­come to my new series, “How to immi­grate to Canada“!

I recently received quite a lot of emails, ask­ing me ques­tions about the immi­gra­tion process. So I decided to explain the whole process in 10 posts, which will be pub­lished every Saturday.

I also encour­age you to ask any ques­tion you may have. I’m not an immi­gra­tion con­sul­tant, but from expe­ri­ence, I may be able to point you to the right direction!

In the series, we will see the dif­fer­ent options you have to come to Canada, as well as your rights and duties as a Per­ma­nent Res­i­dent, what hap­pens after you arrive etc.

In the last two arti­cles, I reviewed the two most com­mon ways to immi­grate to Canada: through the skilled worker cat­e­gory, and through the spon­sor­ship cat­e­gory. But what if you want to set­tle in Que­bec? Things are a lit­tle bit different.

Que­bec is a province of Canada. As such, it shares immi­gra­tion laws with the fed­eral gov­ern­ment of Canada. How­ever, the province signed an immi­gra­tion accord with Canada. Que­bec is respon­si­ble for select­ing the work­ers wish­ing to set­tle in Que­bec, to achieve cer­tain immi­gra­tion objec­tives. But the fed­eral gov­ern­ment of Canada is still respon­si­ble for admit­ting the immigrants.

So what does it mean for a prospec­tive immi­grant who wishes to set­tle in Quebec?

It means that as a prospec­tive per­ma­nent res­i­dent in Que­bec, you will have to fol­low two major steps:

• Being selected by the provin­cial gov­ern­ment of Que­bec. Your edu­ca­tional and work back­grounds will be assessed, as well as your abil­ity to inte­grate into Que­bec. You will need to apply for and obtain a CSQ.
• Being accepted by the fed­eral gov­ern­ment of Canada. It is respon­si­ble for your med­ical exam­i­na­tion and your secu­rity check. It will grant you per­ma­nent res­i­dence if you are successful.

If you apply in the skilled worker cat­e­gory and wish to set­tle in Quebec

The first thing you need to know is that Que­bec is dif­fer­ent than the other provinces. The most obvi­ous dif­fer­ence is lin­guis­tic in nature: the offi­cial lan­guage in Que­bec is French, not Eng­lish and French. The pop­u­la­tion is 80% fran­coph­one, and even though they are some Eng­lish com­mu­ni­ties, the impor­tance given to French is huge.

The gov­ern­ment of Que­bec empha­sizes the fact that the province has a very dis­tinct cul­ture. Indeed, you need to research the spe­cific of Que­bec before you con­sider set­tling there.

You may want to start with a gen­eral idea of Quebec’s core val­ues. Don’t for­get to research the job mar­ket: Cana­dian laws may be dif­fer­ent in Que­bec, where cer­tain pro­fes­sions and trades are reg­u­lated, which means your cre­den­tials may not be rec­og­nized. Finally, get the facts about daily life in Que­bec.

The impor­tance of French can­not be stressed enough, as it is both a prac­ti­cal and a polit­i­cal issue. You may need to speak both French and Eng­lish in some posi­tions, but knowl­edge of French is almost a pre-requisite. Que­bec also has language-laws requir­ing kids to attend school in French in most cases. Polit­i­cally speak­ing, let’s just say it’s a touchy issue…

Like if you were set­tling in other provinces, you need to be selected as a skilled worker. There are also a cer­tain num­ber of cri­te­ria and a pass mark. You can eval­u­ate your chances of being selected online for free, with the Pre­lim­i­nary Eval­u­a­tion for Immi­gra­tion.

The most impor­tant cri­te­ria are:

• Edu­ca­tion
• Work expe­ri­ence, espe­cially acquired train­ing and occu­pa­tional skills
• Knowl­edge of French, or will­ing­ness to learn the lan­guage. Eng­lish is an asset.
• Age: ide­ally, the younger the better!
• Finan­cial capac­ity: you must show that you can sup­port your­self for the first few months fol­low­ing your arrival in Quebec
• Your immi­gra­tion project

If you pass the pre­lim­i­nary test, you can pre­pare your application.

• Down­load the appli­ca­tion for a CSQ, fill in all the paper­work and pay the fees.
• Your appli­ca­tion will be reviewed and assessed by a Bureau du Que­bec. An inter­view is some­time required. The inter­viewer will check your cre­den­tials (edu­ca­tion, degrees, work expe­ri­ence…). He may test your knowl­edge of Que­bec, your lan­guage skills and ask about your immi­gra­tion project.
• You can check the pro­cess­ing time for a CSQ, it depends on the coun­tries where the Bureau du Que­bec is located.
• If your appli­ca­tion is accepted, it will be for­warded to the fed­eral gov­ern­ment of Canada, which will assess your med­ical back­ground and do the secu­rity check.

If you apply in the spon­sor­ship cat­e­gory and wish to set­tle in Quebec

You will have to sub­mit your spon­sor­ship appli­ca­tion to the fed­eral gov­ern­ment of Canada, as described in this arti­cle.

But, since you will set­tle in Que­bec, you must add two extra steps.

• After the fed­eral gov­ern­ment approves the spon­sor­ship, you must sub­mit an under­tak­ing appli­ca­tion to the Min­istère de l’Immigration et des Com­mu­nautés cul­turelles. It is a con­tract that binds the spon­sor with the per­son being spon­sored and the provin­cial gov­ern­ment of Québec. It estab­lishes that the spon­sor has suf­fi­cient finan­cial resources to pro­vide for the per­son you sponsor.
• Then, the per­son spon­sored must obtain a CSQ.

How much does the CSQ cost?

For the prin­ci­pal appli­cant, it cost CA$390. For the spouse and each depen­dent child, it’s CA$150.

Note that if you immi­grate as a fam­ily, each per­son must apply for a CSQ, regard­less of if you will be work­ing or not (i.e. even kids need their CSQ).

To the cost of the CSQ, you still have to add the cost of apply­ing for per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Canada.

What if I wanted to set­tle in Que­bec and changed my mind?

Whether you apply to live in Canada or in Que­bec, the result is the same: you obtain, if suc­cess­ful, the per­ma­nence res­i­dence in Canada. Sure, the two processes are a lit­tle bit dif­fer­ent, but your per­ma­nent res­i­dent card is the same.

Hav­ing the per­ma­nence res­i­dence in Canada gives you the right to live and work any­where you like. There­fore, even if you apply for per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Que­bec, no one can force you to stay there.

How­ever, when apply­ing for per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Que­bec, you do declare that you wish to live in Quebec.

What if I applied for per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Canada and want to set­tle in Quebec?

Well, that is a bit more dif­fi­cult… which is kind of weird actu­ally. Per­ma­nent res­i­dents in Que­bec can move wher­ever they want, but per­ma­nent res­i­dents in other provinces have to take sev­eral steps to live and work in Que­bec, even though they have already immigrated.

You must sub­mit an appli­ca­tion for a CSQ (even if you are already a per­ma­nent res­i­dent in Canada) and pay the fees. Then, you will likely have to come back for an interview.

What if you applied for per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Canada but will land in Quebec?

In a word: don’t. Yes, it may be eas­ier for you for what­ever rea­son, but it’s a big pain.

If you land in Que­bec but have proof on onward travel to another province (plane con­nex­ion, bus or train ticket), you are fine.

If you don’t, the immi­gra­tion offi­cials will very likely refuse to val­i­date your land­ing doc­u­ments. You will have to sub­mit an appli­ca­tion for a CSQ and pay the fees, and have an inter­view. If suc­cess­ful, you will have to have the doc­u­ments val­i­dated… before that, your travel doc­u­ments may be confiscated.

So basi­cally, if you apply to live in Que­bec, arrive in Que­bec, if you apply to live in other provinces, arrive wher­ever you want but in Quebec.

Related arti­cles:

1. Immi­grat­ing to Canada through Que­bec: Still Worth It?
2. How To Immi­grate to Canada (1÷10)
3. How Much Does Immi­grat­ing Really Cost? (5÷10)
4. First Steps As A Per­ma­nent Res­i­dent (9÷10)
5. The Cana­dian Immi­gra­tion Taboo: Those Who Go Back Home
6. How Long Does The Immi­gra­tion Process Take? (6÷10)