Applying as a Quebec Skilled Worker

All skilled worker applicants must meet the minimum work experience requirements, earn enough points in the following factors:

• Education
• Area of training
• Language ability
• Work experience
• Age
• Arranged employment
• Stay and family in Quebec
• Characteristic of accompanying spouse
• Children
• Adaptability
• Meet minimum financial requirements

How the Applications under the Quebec Skilled Worker Program are processed?

Quebec-selected skilled workers must apply in two stages.

You must first obtain a certificate of selection (Certificat de sélection du Québec). This is the official document that shows that the Government of Quebec has accepted you to that province. After you have been selected by Quebec, you have to make a separate application to Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for a permanent residency visa.

This is the second and final stage. Here, you will have to pass a medical examination, security and criminal checks. IRCC conducts these checks for all immigrants, wherever they intend to move in Canada.

Quebec-selected skilled workers are not assessed on the six selection factors of the Federal Skilled Workers Program.

To be selected as a Quebec Skilled worker, you must, in particular:

• settle in Québec with the goal of being employed there
• hold at least one diploma that corresponds, in the Québec education system, to a Secondary School Diploma or a Diploma of Vocational Studies
• have acquired training and occupational skills that will facilitate your insertion into the job market
• the work experience by a skilled worker candidate must have been acquired within the period of five years preceding the date of submission of an application for a selection certificate
• experience that was acquired full time or part time in remunerated jobs
• knowledge of French is an important asset but optional. Knowledge of English is also an asset

With the goal of accelerating the selection and arrival in Québec of workers whose professional profile corresponds to an occupation in demand, the Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities is now prioritizing the processing of applications filed by skilled workers who hold a diploma in one of the areas indicated on the list. See the list of preferred areas of training in the province of Quebec.

Selection factors and criteria

Selection is made on the basis of a selection grid, with points awarded on the basis of various selection factors and criteria. The assessment of your application will determine whether you obtain a sufficient number of points to be selected by Québec.

The Selection Grid for the Regular Skilled Worker Program presents the selection factors and criteria, but also the weighting and the passing scores that apply to skilled workers, as stipulated in Québec Immigration Regulation and the Regulation respecting the weighting applicable to the selection of foreign nationals.