The One Permanent Route Quebec Does Not Select
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of United States on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
107 exceptions recorded across 42 countries · none match United States to Canada · Residency through marriage
A spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident is a member of the family class, which is one of the three classes through which a permanent resident visa can be issued. It is also the only one that escapes provincial selection: subsection 70(3) applies Quebec's criteria to a foreign national intending to settle there who is not a member of the family class, which means a sponsored spouse heading for Montreal is assessed by Canada alone.
At a glance
- Who may be sponsored
- A spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner
- Whether Quebec selects you
- No - the provision reaches everyone intending to settle there except the family class
Subsection 70(3) of the Regulations.
- What the class is
- One of three, beside the economic class and the refugee classes
Subsection 70(2) of the Regulations.
Requirements
- A sponsor who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- A spousal, common-law or conjugal relationship with that sponsor
Country-level policy
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.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of United States
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«117 (1) A foreign national is a member of the family class if, with respect to a sponsor, the foreign national is - (a) the sponsor’s spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner;»The quotation ends at paragraph (a). The paragraphs after it carry children, parents, grandparents and orphaned relatives.
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.»Read the exclusion forwards and it is a limit on the province: Quebec's criteria apply to everyone intending to live there who is not in the family class.
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
Membership of the family class is about the relationship. Whether a particular sponsor may sponsor is a separate question governed by the sponsorship sections, which were not read for this record.
- consolidatesImmigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
Justice Laws Website, Department of Justice Canada
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