Quebec Self-Employed Worker Program

1. Permanent residencypossible
2. Citizenshipafter 3 years

• Permanent residency
• Citizenship 3 years
• Dual citizenship allowed
• Language required for citizenship CLB 4

Country

Canada

Program

Quebec Self-Employed Worker Program

Local name

Programme des travailleurs autonomes

Type

Freelancer

Status

Active

Quebec permanent selection for people who will practise a profession in Quebec on their own account. Requirements include two years of experience in that profession, a net worth of at least CAD 100,000, spoken French at level 7, a qualifying diploma, and a start-up deposit of CAD 25,000 outside the Montréal metropolitan community or CAD 50,000 inside it. Applications are open at any time. A Certificat de sélection du Québec is then filed with the federal permanent residence application.

Net worth required

$70,225

Application fee

$893

Tax regime

Worldwide

Regime name

Canadian and Quebec worldwide income tax

Foreign income taxed

Yes

Capital gains taxed

Yes

Method

mail

Processing time

Up to 2281 days

Apply from abroad

Yes

Open, with no intake cap. The conditions page was last updated 25 June 2026. Experience must be at least two years, in the applicant's own name, in the five years before filing, and not in payday lending, the sex industry, or property trading, leasing, brokerage, development, or planning. Someone already self-employed in Quebec may apply and must still meet every condition. A regulated profession needs Quebec authorization to practise, or recognition of training dated no more than five years before the application, unless the work will be done in a context that does not require authorization. Net worth of at least CAD 100,000 may be shared with the accompanying spouse and excludes donations in the six months before filing. Education is a Quebec secondary-school diploma equivalent or a full-time program of at least one year at vocational or college level. Spoken French must be at least level 7 on the Échelle québécoise, shown by an accepted test under two years old or a listed secondary diploma. `language_level` is the later federal citizenship level, CLB 4 or NCLC 4. The applicant also signs a financial self-sufficiency contract covering three months from permanent residence. The dollar schedules for that contract were not copied into a field. The start-up deposit is CAD 25,000 outside the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal and CAD 50,000 inside it, paid to a financial institution in Quebec when the Ministère asks, a few weeks after the file is opened. The conditions page does not say the deposit is refunded, so `is_returnable` is false. USD uses the Bank of Canada rate of 8 October 2026, 1 USD = 1.4240 CAD: CAD 100,000 ≈ USD 70,225; CAD 25,000 ≈ USD 17,556; CAD 50,000 ≈ USD 35,112. The Quebec selection fee from 1 January 2026 is CAD 1,272 for the principal applicant and CAD 201 for the spouse and for each dependent child (CAD 1,246 and CAD 197 until 31 December 2025). About USD 893 and USD 141 at the same rate. After the Certificat de sélection du Québec, federal business-class fees also apply (from 30 April 2026: CAD 2,495 for the principal applicant including the right of permanent residence, CAD 1,590 for a spouse including that fee, CAD 270 per child). Those federal fees are not stored here. IRCC's 3 September 2026 processing-time file says "About 75 months" for Quebec business class as a group, stored as 2,281 days. That is not a Ministère selection time, and there is no published year count from filing to permanent residence. The conditions page does not set a numeric minimum age or a day-count stay. Citizenship follows the federal rule of 1,095 days in five years, with at least 730 days as a permanent resident.

1. Oct 10, 2026

   Added

   added the open Quebec Self-Employed Worker Program, with CAD 100,000 net worth, location deposits of CAD 25,000 and CAD 50,000, and the 1 January 2026 fee of CAD 1,272 (https://www.quebec.ca/en/immigration/permanent/immigrate-business/self-employed-workers/conditions).