Conditions for immigrating to Québec as an entrepreneur – Stream 1: Innovative business

You must be at least 18 years of age at the time of submission of the application.

You must hold a diploma corresponding minimally, in Québec, to a secondary school diploma, obtained before the date of submission of the application.

You must have a knowledge of spoken French corresponding minimally to level 7 according to the Échelle québécoise des niveaux de compétence en français (PDF 4.94 Mb) (Québec scale of French proficiency levels).

To demonstrate your knowledge of French, even if French is your mother tongue, you must submit one of the following documents: 

• Test results certificates or French language assessment diplomas accepted by the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration; 
• One of the secondary school diplomas accepted by the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration.

The French language assessment tests and diplomas accepted by the Ministère are: 

• Test de connaissance du français pour le Québec  (TCF-Québec), France Éducation international;
• Test de connaissance du français pour le Canada  (TCF-Canada), France Éducation international;
• Test de connaissance du français  (TCF), France Éducation international;
• Diplôme approfondi de langue française  (DALF), France Éducation international;
• Diplôme d’études en langue française  (DELF), France Éducation international;
• Test d’évaluation du français adapté pour le Québec  (TEFAQ), Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris Île-de-France (CCIP-IDF);
• Test d’évaluation du français pour le Canada  (TEF Canada), CCIP-IDF;
• Test d’évaluation du français  (TEF),CCIP-IDF.

Your results must be less than two years old at the time you submit your application.

Please note — Only the results issued by the suppliers of these tests (France Éducation international and the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris Île-de-France) are recognized by the Ministère.

Electronic versions of the above tests are also accepted. You must take these tests in a centre approved by the organization that provides them.

Here are the secondary school diplomas accepted by the Ministère:

• General, vocational and technological baccalaureates awarded by the French Ministry of Education,
• Certificate of higher secondary education (CESS) issued by the Government of the French Community of Belgium;
• Maturité certificate awarded on completion of studies at a school located in a French-speaking canton of Switzerland.

The Ministère may call you for an interview to verify the level of French you declared in your application for permanent selection.

You must commit for three months as of the date of obtaining permanent resident status to meeting your essential needs, those of the members of your family accompanying you and those of dependent children who are Canadian citizens.

Please consult the schedules in effect (PDF 140 Kb) for the current year.

Your business must not be engaged in activities in the following sectors: 

• Payday loans, cashing cheques or pledge loans; 
• Production, distribution or sale of pornographic or sexually explicit products or services related to the sex industry, such as nude or erotic dancing, escort services or erotic massage; 
• Trading, leasing, brokerage, development or planning in the property sector. 

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

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

The members of your family accompanying you will also need to obtain it, namely, 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 obtained this attestation.

You can start your innovative business alone or with a maximum of three people who also submit an application under the Entrepreneur Program.  

Your contribution to the original capital of the business that you will create must correspond to at least 10% of the value of this business. You can hold it alone or with the spouse accompanying you. 

You must have received a service offer from an organization specialized in innovation that has committed to supporting you in carrying out your business project. 

An organization specialized in innovation is an organization with an establishment in Québec whose main activity is to provide support services (training, mentoring, searching for financing) to people whose business project entails starting or growing an innovative business.  

The organization must be able to demonstrate that it can support you in your business project. To do so, it must draw up an Offre de service en innovation (PDF 233 Kb)

(innovation service offer) in which it presents the services it intends to offer you for carrying out your project.  The service offer makes it possible to assess the capacity of the organization to support you in carrying out your business project. The resources deployed by the support organization must be sufficient and adapted to the needs related to carrying out your project.  

You must include the form completed by the organization with your application.

Your business project must be outlined in a business plan and submitted with your application.

To draw up your business plan, you must use the document Plan d’affaires — Programme des entrepreneurs Volet 1 (PDF 202 Kb) (in French only).

To submit an application for the Carrying out an innovative project profile, you must have been living in Québec for at least two years and be authorized to work in Québec, and have honoured the conditions of your stay.

You can carry out your innovative project alone or with a maximum of three people who also submit an application under the Entrepreneur Program. You are not required to have started this business with these people.

Your share in the paid-in capital of the business you have started must be at least 10% of the value of that capital. You may hold it alone or together with your spouse or accompanying common-law partner.

You must have received a service offer from an organization specialized in innovation that has committed to supporting you in carrying out your innovative project. 

An organization specialized in innovation is an organization with an establishment in Québec whose main activity is to provide support services (training, mentorship or search for financing) to people whose business project entails starting or growing an innovative business.  

The organization must be able to demonstrate that it can support you in your business project. To do so, it must draw up an Offre de service en innovation (PDF 233 Kb) (innovation service offer) in which it presents the services it intends to offer you for carrying out your project. The service offer makes it possible to assess the capacity of the organization to support you in carrying out your business project. The resources deployed by the support organization must be sufficient and adapted to the needs related to carrying out your project.  

You must include the form completed by the organization with your application. 

For reference purposes, you can consult the list of projects of support organizations supported by the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation (in French only).

Your business project must be presented in the form of a business plan, which must be attached to your application.

To draw up your business plan, you must use the document Plan d’affaires — Volet 1 Programme des entrepreneurs (PDF 202 Kb) (in French only).