Before you start

A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
Results from a recognised French test — TEF Canada, TEFAQ, TCF Canada or TCF Québec
A Quebec comparative evaluation of studies (évaluation comparative) or an Educational Credential Assessment
For employer-specific work permits, a Quebec Acceptance Certificate alongside the federal permit

Step-by-step

1
Establish which of the two systems your route runs through
Economic immigration to Quebec goes through the provincial selection programs and the Arrima portal. Family sponsorship and refugee protection are federal and bypass Quebec selection entirely. Temporary work permits are federal but usually need a Quebec Acceptance Certificate as well. Settle this first — the routes have almost nothing in common.
OnlineWho: You
2
Sit a recognised French test early, and treat the result as the decision
Quebec's skilled-worker selection was replaced in late 2024 by a new set of streams in which spoken French functions as a threshold for the principal applicant rather than a points top-up. Book the test a year before you intend to apply, not after — it is the single most improvable factor in the whole file and the one that most often ends an application.
In personWho: You
3
Get your qualifications evaluated on the Quebec side
Quebec issues its own évaluation comparative des études effectuées hors du Québec, which is what provincial employers and the selection process recognise. If your profession is regulated — nursing, engineering, teaching, accounting — the professional order, not the ministry, decides whether you can practise, and that is a separate and slower process.
OnlineWho: You
4
Apply for a Social Insurance Number in your first week
Free, from Service Canada, with your passport and permit. Issued the same visit in person at a Service Canada centre. No employer can run payroll for you without it, and the bank will ask for it too.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
5
Submit the federal application once the CSQ is issued
The certificate is Quebec's selection decision and roughly the halfway mark. Ottawa still runs medical, criminal and security admissibility checks and issues the actual status, on its own timetable and for separate fees.
OnlineWho: You
6
Register for francisation, which is free and runs full- and part-time
Quebec funds French instruction for newcomers, with financial support available for some full-time learners, and it is open to permanent residents and many temporary workers. In a city this francophone it is not optional in practice — and the classmates are, for most arrivals, the first network they build here.
OnlineWho: You
7
Keep a day-by-day log of physical presence in Canada
Both the permanent-resident residency obligation and the citizenship physical-presence test are counted in days across several years. Start the log on the day you land; reconstructing it later from stamps and boarding passes is genuinely hard.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
CSQ, once issued
Work permit, Quebec Acceptance Certificate or Confirmation of Permanent Residence
French test results, and English results where relevant
Évaluation comparative des études or an Educational Credential Assessment
A record of every entry to and exit from Canada

Things most newcomers don’t know

Québec City is the one large Canadian city where arriving without French is not a manageable inconvenience.

Montreal is genuinely bilingual in daily life and you can function there in English while you learn. Here around 95% of the metro is francophone by first language and English is thin outside tourism, Université Laval and a handful of software firms. The immigration file weights French heavily; the city weights it absolutely. People who treat the language as a post-arrival project usually spend the first year unable to work at their own level.

Source: Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration

The provincial selection program changed in late 2024, so anything written before then is describing a system that no longer exists.

Quebec restructured its skilled-worker selection into a new set of streams built around a spoken-French threshold for the principal applicant. Guides, forum posts and consultant blog copy from 2023 and earlier describe the old points grid and are actively misleading about what determines an outcome. Read the ministry's own current pages and nothing else.

Source: Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration

If your profession is regulated, the professional order is a separate gate from immigration and it is usually the slow one.

A CSQ and permanent residence give you the right to live and work in Quebec. They do not give you the right to practise as a nurse, engineer, accountant or teacher — that comes from the relevant ordre professionnel, which runs its own recognition process, often requires French to a defined standard and can require additional coursework. Start it in parallel with the immigration file, not afterwards.

Source: Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration

The CSQ is not permanent residence, and the federal half takes as long again.

Receiving the certificate feels like arrival and is roughly the midpoint. Ottawa then conducts its own assessment and issues the status on its own timetable. Newcomers who book flights and resign jobs around the CSQ date routinely find themselves a year early.

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Common mistakes to avoid

Planning a move here on federal Express Entry advice written for Toronto or Vancouver.
Reading pre-2025 guidance about the Quebec points grid, which has been replaced.
Treating French as something to learn after arriving rather than before applying.
Assuming a CSQ is permanent residence and planning the move date around it.
Leaving the professional-order recognition process until after landing.
Starting a job before the Social Insurance Number is issued and delaying your own first pay.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

Make it your personal checklist

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