Conditions for immigrating to Québec as a self-employed worker

To immigrate to Québec as a self-employed worker and be eligible for the Self-Employed Worker Program, you must meet the following conditions.

List of conditions to be honoured

Settle in Québec to work here

You must practise your profession or business activities in Québec, alone or with others, with or without paid help.

 

Have a minimum net worth

You must have a net worth of at least CDN$100,000. You can share this net worth with your spouse or common-law partner who is accompanying you to Québec. You must be able to demonstrate the legal origin and accumulation of your net worth.

 

Have the required professional experience

You must have at least two years of self-employment experience in the profession or trade you intend to practise in Québec.

 

Make a start-up deposit

You will need to make a start-up deposit with a financial institution located in the area where you plan to practise your trade or profession:

• Outside the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), the start-up deposit is CDN$25,000.
• On the territory of the CMM, the start-up deposit is CDN$50,000.

You will need to make the deposit after you receive the letter that confirms the opening of your file.

Obtain an attestation of learning about democratic values and Québec values

When your file is opened, you will receive a request to obtain an attestation of learning about democratic values and Québec values.

You must obtain your attestation within a maximum of 60 days after receiving this request.

Members of your family that are accompanying you will also need to obtain it, including your spouse aged 16 years or older and your dependent children aged 18 years or older.

You will not receive this request if you and your family have already received your attestation.

Obtain enough points in the selection grid

Your application is reviewed according to the program's selection conditions, including the program’s selection grid . You are awarded points for each factor and criterion on the grid. You must obtain 63 out of 107 points on the grid to meet the cut-off for factors and criteria that have an elimination threshold.

To obtain more points, you may include your spouse who is accompanying you in your application. In this case, the minimum score is 70 out of 120 points.

Obtain the legal right to practise if you are self-employed in a regulated profession

If you wish to practise a regulated profession or trade in Québec, you must obtain the legal right to practise, even if you have obtained a degree or license outside of Québec.

You must also demonstrate that your knowledge of French is sufficient to become a member of a professional order.

To find out what steps to take, you can consult the Qualifications Québec website or directly contact the organization that governs the conditions of practice for your profession or trade.

If you have already started your professional project in Québec, you can apply to the Self-Employed Worker Program. Nonetheless, you will still need to meet all the conditions of the program.