Eligibility conditions for competency recognition financial assistance

To receive financial assistance under the Programme d’aide financière pour la formation d’appoint en reconnaissance des compétences (PAFFARC), you must meet certain conditions and take eligible refresher training.

You must meet the following conditions for the entire duration of the refresher training or internship.

List of eligible professions or regulated trades

The profession or regulated trade that you want to practise must appear on the list of eligible professions or regulated trades.

Take training required by a regulatory body

You must take or have already taken the refresher training prescribed or required by a regulatory body after the evaluation of your competencies. The training must be taken in French.

The training must allow you to upgrade the competencies you acquired abroad so you can practise your profession or trade in Québec.

You must present the regulatory body’s instructions when you apply for financial assistance.

Have received a diploma or taken training abroad

You must have received a diploma or taken training, outside of Canada, that leads to the practice, in Québec, of one of the eligible professions or trades.

Have one of the identification documents

You must have one of the following documents:

• Social Insurance Number (SIN)
• Individual Tax Number (ITN)
• Temporary Tax Number (TTN)

Be 18 years of age or older

You must be at least 18 years old at the start of your refresher training, taken abroad or in Québec.

Have the required knowledge of French

You must demonstrate that you have the required level of oral and written French to be able to take your refresher training in French.

Have an eligible immigration status

You must be in one of the following situations:

• You are a naturalized Canadian citizen;
• You hold permanent resident status;
• You are a person authorized to submit an application for permanent residence in Canada;
• You are a temporary resident and hold a work or study permit issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC);
• You have an exemption from the obligation to have a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec and an exemption from the obligation to have work permit issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

If you are in Québec as a temporary worker or foreign student, you must make sure you comply with all the conditions related to your status.

Even if you meet the program's definition of the target client, or the description of individuals eligible for financial assistance to participate in refresher training, or the requirements for successfully completing refresher training or its criteria, you are not eligible for financial assistance from the program or for the training itself if you have any of the following statuses:

• Asylum seeker;
• Agricultural worker;
• Tourist;
• Canadian citizen by birth;
• Agricultural worker, or a person residing in Québec as a domestic helper;
• Member of a consular corps, diplomatic corps or international organization.

You are not eligible for this financial assistance if you are already receiving benefits from another training progam offered by another department or government agency, namely: 

• Employment insurance (when unemployed);
• Social Assistance (Social Assistance Program, Social Solidarity Program, Employment Objective Program and Basic Income Program);
• the Mesure de formation de la main-d'œuvre à l'intention des individus MFOR-I (Workforce Training Measure Program), of the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS);
• the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité au travail (CNESST),
• the Québec Parental Insurance Plan (maternity or parental leave);
• the Financial assistance for Ukrainian nationals (SAPU in French);
• the Public Automobile Insurance Plan (replacement benefits following a traffic accident paid by the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec);
• Financial assistance for immigrants to attend French language courses, provided by the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI);
• From a scholarship awarded by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, since you cannot receive double funding from the government;  
• Financial assistance for studies granted by the Ministère de l'Éducation du Québec (Québec Ministry of Education). 

Submit your application for financial assistance on time

For sub-streams 2A, 2B or 3B of the program:

• You must submit your application for financial assistance as soon as you begin your refresher training, but no earlier than three weeks before the start of your training or internship.
• Please note that if you are eligible for one of these program streams, financial assistance may be granted retroactively, up to a maximum of eight weeks prior to the date you submit your application, but no later than the end date of your training or internship..
• You do not need to apply for financial assistance if your refresher training has been completed for eight weeks or more.

For sub-streams 1A or 1B of the program, you must submit your application for financial assistance within eight months of your arrival in Québec.

For sub-stream 3A of the program, you must have successfully completed your training and submit your application for financial assistance within six months of completing your training.

Only refresher training given in French is eligible for the program.

You must complete one of the following refresher courses:

Refresher training

The refresher training must be prescribed or required by a regulatory body. It must allow you to acquire the missing competencies required to obtain an authorization to practise an eligible profession or regulated trade.

Refresher training taken in Québec must comply with the following maximum durations:

• Refresher training offered by an educational institution: 62 weeks for full-time and part-time training
• Refresher training offered or overseen by a regulatory body, in the form of courses: 45 hours of training per course

Training taken abroad must comply with the following maximum durations:

• Online refresher training offered by a Québec educational institution: 15 consecutive weeks for full-time and part-time training
• Online refresher training offered or overseen by a Québec regulatory body, in the form of courses: 45 hours of training per course

Refresher training in the form of an unpaid internship

The internship must be prescribed or required by a regulatory body. This internship must be unpaid. It must allow you to acquire or check the skills required to practise one of the eligible professions or regulated trades.

Your internship must be taken full time for a maximum duration of 26 consecutive weeks.

Non-eligible refresher training

The following kinds of training are not eligible:

• Refresher training that leads to a profession or trade that is not on the list of professions and trades targeted by the program
• Immersion internships to learn about a trade or sector or to experience real working conditions
• Training funded by the programs or measures of one of the following organizations:
  • Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS)
  • Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT)
• Training that leads to a licence to practise and that is common to all candidates to the profession (mandatory training for both people who earned their diploma in Québec and those who trained abroad)
• Refresher training for a specialization that is not required to obtain a licence to practise the intended profession or trade;
• Refresher training given in a language other than French or internship that constitutes refresher training and taken in a language other than French.