Country-wide policy
Canada Admits You. A Province Decides Whether to Choose You First
Almost every answer on this page has a second half written by a province, and the Act says so out loud. Section 8 lets the Minister enter into agreements with a province, and then makes selection, sponsorship and the acquisition of status consistent with those agreements despite the other provisions of the Act. The Regulations carry the consequences one by one. A permanent applicant intending to live in Quebec and not in the family class meets the selection criterion by the province's opinion rather than Canada's. A labour market assessment for a job in Quebec is made in concert with the province. A study permit for Quebec cannot be issued without the province's certificate where its own laws require one. The start-up business class is prescribed for people who intend to live somewhere else entirely. Three of the eleven economic classes are Quebec's own. The result is that the question 'what does Canada require' is incomplete by design, and a reader who stops at the federal answer has half of one.
Topics it changes
At a glance
- Where the split is authorised
- Section 8 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Subsection 8(2) is the half that makes it bind.
- How strong it is
- Selection must be consistent with the agreements despite the other provisions of the Act
- Who escapes it
- The family class
By the words of subsection 70(3) of the Regulations.
- Quebec's own economic classes
- Three of the eleven
Subsection 70(2) of the Regulations.
- Where the start-up business class may take you
- A province other than Quebec
- Whether the agreements are on the Justice Laws Website
- No - the Minister publishes a list of those in force once a year, elsewhere
Subsection 8(1) of the Act.
What the law says
«8 (1) The Minister, with the approval of the Governor in Council, may enter into an agreement with the government of any province for the purposes of this Act. The Minister must publish, once a year, a list of the federal-provincial agreements that are in force. - Marginal note: Consistency with agreement (2) Subject to subsection (3) but despite the other provisions of this Act, the following must be consistent with the federal-provincial agreements: - (a) the selection and sponsorship of, and the acquisition of status by, foreign nationals under this Act; and - (b) regulations governing those matters, including regulations respecting the examination in Canada of applications to become a permanent resident, or respecting the foreign nationals who may be selected on the basis of an investment in Canada.»The clause that matters is 'despite the other provisions of this Act'. A federal-provincial agreement is not a courtesy arrangement sitting under the statute; the statute bends to it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(d), the selection criterion for a foreign national who intends to reside in the Province of Quebec as a permanent resident and is not a member of the family class is met by evidence that the competent authority of that Province is of the opinion that the foreign national complies with the provincial selection criteria.»About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(4) In the case of a foreign national who intends to work in the Province of Quebec, the assessment provided by the Department of Employment and Social Development shall be made in concert with the competent authority of that Province.»About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(3) An officer shall not issue a study permit to a foreign national who intends to study in the Province of Quebec — other than under a federal assistance program for developing countries — and does not hold a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec , if the laws of that Province require that the foreign national hold a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec .»About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«98.01 (1) For the purposes of subsection 12(2) of the Act, the start-up business class is prescribed as a class of persons who may become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada, who meet the requirements of subsection (2) and who intend to reside in a province other than Quebec. - Marginal note: Member of class (2) A foreign national is a member of the start-up business class if - (a) they have obtained a commitment that is made by one or more entities designated under subsection 98.03(1), that is less than six months old on the date on which their application for a permanent resident visa is made and that meets the requirements of section 98.04; - (b) they have submitted the results of a language test that is approved under subsection 102.3(4), which results must be provided by an organization or institution that is designated under that subsection, be less than two years old on the date on which their application for a permanent resident visa is made and indicate that the foreign national has met at least benchmark level 5 in either official language for all four language skill areas, as set out in the Canadian Language Benchmarks or the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens , as applicable; - (c) they have, excluding any investment made by a designated entity into their business, transferable and available funds unencumbered by debts or other obligations of an amount that is equal to one half of the amount identified, in the most recent edition of the publication concerning low income cut-offs published annually by Statistics Canada under the Statistics Act , for urban areas of residence of 500,000 persons or more, as the minimum amount of before-tax annual income that is necessary to support a group of persons equal in number to the total number of the applicant and their family members; and - (d) they have started a qualifying business within the meaning of section 98.06.»Quoted here for its first sentence: the class is prescribed for persons who intend to reside in a province other than Quebec.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The agreements themselves are not in this corpus. Section 8 requires the Minister to publish a list of those in force once a year, and the Justice Laws Website is not where that list lives.
Nine other provinces and three territories nominate under the provincial nominee class rather than select. The difference is real: a nomination is a federal class entered on provincial say-so, where Quebec's criteria replace the federal ones.