Canada Quebec Business Permanent Residence
Canada
Residency
At a glance
Quebec business immigration covers investor, entrepreneur, and self-employed worker routes for applicants who want to settle in Quebec and build, buy, invest in, or operate a qualifying business or professional activity there.
- Type
- Quebec business selection
- Business fit
- Investors, entrepreneurs, and self-employed professionals
- Core requirements
- Strong spoken French, funds, business records, and Quebec selection
- What to know
- Quebec selection comes before the federal permanent-residence application
- Duration
- Permanent residence after Quebec selection and federal approval.
- Renewal / path
- Can support Canadian citizenship after physical-presence rules are met.
Summary
Quebec selects business immigrants through three separate programs: Investor, Entrepreneur, and Self-Employed Worker. The Entrepreneur Program itself has three streams: Innovative Business, Business Start-up, and Business Takeover. Each route has detailed Quebec selection requirements followed by a federal permanent-residence application. Applicants should choose a specific program, stream and profile before assessing eligibility; "having money" or "wanting to start a business" is not enough.
As of August 2026, Quebec's official pages say investor and self-employed applications may be submitted at any time with no maximum intake. Entrepreneur rules are component-specific and should be checked immediately before filing.
Eligibility
Important current distinctions include:
- Investor Program: requires an agreement with an authorized financial intermediary, at least two years of qualifying management experience in the previous five years, lawful net worth of at least CAD 2 million, a qualifying diploma, and spoken French at Quebec scale level 7. When requested, the intermediary makes a five-year CAD 1 million investment and a CAD 200,000 financial contribution. Within two years after the supported work permit is issued, the family must complete at least 12 months in Quebec: the principal applicant must complete at least six months, and the remaining six months may be completed by the applicant or accompanying spouse.
- Entrepreneur Program, Stream 1: covers an innovative business and requires support from a qualified Quebec innovation organization, a business plan, minimum education, spoken French level 7, and at least a 10% contribution to the company's original or paid-in capital. It has one profile for starting an innovative company and another for carrying out an innovative project through a company already started in Quebec. The already-started-company profile also requires at least two years living and being authorized to work in Quebec.
- Entrepreneur Program, Stream 2: covers starting or operating a non-innovative business. Both profiles require a business plan, minimum education, spoken French level 7, financial self-sufficiency and at least a 25% stake. The start-up profile also requires two years of recent management experience, lawful net worth of at least CAD 600,000, and documented start-up or operating spending of at least CAD 300,000 in metropolitan Montreal or CAD 150,000 elsewhere before final selection. The already-started-company profile requires at least two years living and being authorized to work in Quebec, a business started at least one year earlier, and lawful net worth of at least CAD 300,000.
- Entrepreneur Program, Stream 3: covers taking over a Quebec business or operating one already acquired, with support from a Quebec organization specializing in business transfers. The business must have operated for at least five years, the applicant and accompanying spouse must acquire control, and the applicant needs a takeover plan, minimum education and spoken French level 7. The in-process profile requires lawful net worth of at least CAD 600,000 and takeover spending of at least CAD 300,000 in metropolitan Montreal or CAD 150,000 elsewhere. The acquired-business profile requires at least two years living in Quebec and lawful net worth of at least CAD 300,000.
- Self-Employed Worker Program: requires at least two years of recent self-employed experience in the proposed profession, lawful net worth of at least CAD 100,000, a qualifying diploma, spoken French level 7, and a start-up deposit of CAD 25,000 outside metropolitan Montreal or CAD 50,000 within it. Regulated professions require authorization or qualifying recognition evidence.
All programs require a genuine intention to settle in Quebec, proof of lawful source and accumulation of funds where relevant, a Quebec-values attestation for applicable family members, and later federal admissibility review.
What This Route Allows
Quebec first decides whether to select the applicant and issue a Certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ). The applicant then applies to IRCC for Canadian permanent residence. Some programs have a work-permit stage before final Quebec selection; that stage does not itself guarantee a CSQ or permanent residence.
Federal approval gives permanent residence to the applicant and included eligible family members. The business, investment, residence, and reporting commitments must still be honored as the applicable program requires.
What This Route Is Not
This is not citizenship by investment, a property-purchase route, or a single passive-investment visa. The Investor Program has French, management, net-worth, investment, contribution, and Quebec-presence requirements. Entrepreneur and self-employed routes require real activity and supporting records. The takeover stream requires control of an operating business and specialist support; buying a minority interest or property is not enough.
Quebec selection is not federal approval. IRCC still assesses identity, family composition, medical results, criminality, security, misrepresentation, and other admissibility matters.
Next Steps
- Choose Investor, Entrepreneur Stream 1, 2 or 3, or Self-Employed Worker based on the actual proposed activity.
- Read the current Quebec conditions page for that exact program and profile; confirm that intake is open.
- Obtain accepted proof of spoken French level 7 and check the education and experience rules.
- Build a complete lawful-source-of-funds record before moving or borrowing money for the project.
- For Investor, use only an authorized financial intermediary. For Entrepreneur, use Quebec's required business-plan format and support documents.
- Apply to Quebec first, complete any work-permit and Quebec-presence stage that applies, then apply federally after receiving the CSQ.
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Sweden
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Sources
- Quebec — Business immigration programs
- Quebec — Investor Program conditions
- Quebec — Entrepreneur Program
- Quebec — Entrepreneur Stream 1 conditions
- Quebec — Entrepreneur Stream 2 conditions
- Quebec — Entrepreneur Stream 3 Business Takeover conditions
- Quebec — Self-Employed Worker Program conditions
- IRCC — Quebec business immigrants: federal stage