Canada Quebec Skilled Worker Residence
Canada
Residency
At a glance
Quebec's skilled-worker selection route is for people whose profile fits Quebec's labor and integration priorities. It generally requires qualifying under a Quebec stream, receiving Quebec selection, and then completing federal admissibility checks.
- Type
- Skilled-worker residence
- Job or skills fit
- Workers whose occupation, experience, French, and profile fit a current stream of Quebec's Skilled Worker Selection Program
- Core requirements
- Quebec invitation and selection first, followed by the federal permanent-residence and admissibility process
- What to know
- Credentials, skills, or job details drive eligibility
- Duration
- Permanent residence after Quebec selection and federal approval.
- Renewal / path
- Can support Canadian citizenship after physical-presence rules are met.
Summary
Quebec's Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ), or Skilled Worker Selection Program, is the province's main permanent-selection route for skilled workers in Quebec or abroad. It replaced the former Regular Skilled Worker Program for new expressions of interest.
The PSTQ is invitation-based. A person first submits a declaration of interest through Arrima. Quebec then chooses candidates by stream using current invitation criteria and, where used, a score. Quebec has been issuing PSTQ invitations during 2026, but an Arrima profile does not guarantee an invitation.
Eligibility
All four streams require the person to be at least 18, intend to settle in Quebec and take eligible employment, be able to perform the intended main occupation, meet the criteria that produced the invitation, and sign a financial self-sufficiency contract for the first three months after becoming a permanent resident. The applicant and accompanying family members age 18 or older must obtain the Quebec-values attestation within the required process.
The intended employment cannot be for a company the applicant legally or effectively controls. Certain activities, including payday lending and specified sex-industry businesses, are excluded.
Quebec assigns the stream using the main occupation and its National Occupational Classification (NOC) training, education, experience and responsibilities category, called FEER in French and TEER in English:
- Stream 1 — Highly qualified and specialized skills: generally for non-regulated work at TEER 0, 1 or 2. It requires at least one year of paid experience in the main occupation during the previous five years, a qualifying diploma completed before applying, spoken French at Quebec scale level 7 and written French at level 5. An accompanying spouse must have spoken French at level 4.
- Stream 2 — Intermediate and manual skills: generally for non-regulated work at TEER 3, 4 or 5. It requires at least two years of paid experience during the previous five years, including at least one year in Quebec, plus the required school or vocational credential. The principal applicant needs spoken French at level 5 and an accompanying spouse needs spoken French at level 4.
- Stream 3 — Regulated professions: for occupations on Quebec's regulated-professions list. The applicant needs an authorization to practice or proof, no more than five years old when applying, that the Quebec regulator has partly or fully recognized the training or diploma. French is level 7 spoken and level 5 written for TEER 0, 1 or 2, or level 5 spoken for TEER 3, 4 or 5; an accompanying spouse needs spoken level 4. A receipt showing that the regulator merely received a file is not recognition.
- Stream 4 — Exceptional talent: for a person with exceptional expertise and a proven record who has practiced the main occupation for at least three of the previous five years. The person must have an achievement on Quebec's official list or a positive opinion from an approved partner in a targeted economic, research, arts or sports field.
The full diploma, internship, experience, occupation and language rules contain exceptions and definitions. For Stream 3, Quebec generally recommends waiting for an invitation before starting the regulator assessment; an invited person has one year to obtain the required recognition evidence.
What This Route Allows
An invited candidate who passes Quebec's assessment receives a Certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ). The CSQ permits the person to apply to IRCC as a Quebec-selected skilled worker.
If IRCC approves the federal permanent-residence application, the applicant and eligible accompanying family members become Canadian permanent residents and can settle in Quebec.
What This Route Is Not
A declaration of interest is not a permanent-selection application, and a CSQ is not permanent residence or a work permit. The person must first be invited, then satisfy Quebec, and then complete the federal application.
There is no single fixed invitation score that guarantees selection. Quebec can change criteria, target particular occupations or regions, and set a minimum score for a particular exercise. The published 2026 invitation results describe past rounds, not a promise about the next one.
This is not Express Entry or a provincial nominee program. Quebec selects the applicant, while IRCC makes the final permanent-residence and admissibility decision.
Next Steps
- Find the five-digit NOC for the work you genuinely plan to perform in Quebec. Use Quebec's occupation tool to identify the correct PSTQ stream and check whether the job is regulated or has a Quebec-diploma or status requirement.
- Compare the profile with every current requirement for that stream, including experience dates, diploma length, French level, spouse language and any regulatory recognition.
- Take an accepted French test or obtain another form of proof Quebec recognizes. Do not convert language scores informally; use Quebec's official scale and accepted-document table.
- Submit a truthful declaration of interest in Arrima. Keep the main occupation, work, education, language, family and Quebec-connection information current.
- Review the current invitation criteria and the 2026 invitation decisions. An invitation is tied to the occupation and facts in the declaration; if the intended main occupation changes, Quebec says to decline and update the profile.
- If invited, submit the permanent-selection application by the invitation deadline, sign the financial self-sufficiency contract, complete the values attestation and provide the required supporting documents.
- For Stream 3, obtain the regulator document within the time Quebec permits. Do not confuse partial or full recognition with a license that already authorizes practice.
- After receiving the CSQ, submit the separate federal permanent-residence application and complete IRCC's identity, family, police, medical, security and other requirements. Maintain temporary status separately if already in Canada.
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Sources
- Government of Quebec — Skilled Worker Selection Program — official PSTQ process overview.
- Government of Quebec — PSTQ requirements — current general and four-stream eligibility rules.
- Government of Quebec — PSTQ invitations — how Arrima invitations, criteria and scoring work.
- Government of Quebec — 2026 PSTQ invitation results — official round-by-round criteria and invitation counts for 2026.
- IRCC — Quebec-selected skilled workers — federal permanent-residence step after Quebec selection.