Quebec’s investor route includes a work permit and a qualifying stay

Section 90(2) of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations defines membership of the Quebec investor class by two things: an intention to reside in Quebec, and being named in a Certificat de sélection du Québec. Quebec’s conditions page lists nine requirements. Federal guidance separately sets conditions for the open work permit, including general work-permit eligibility.

What the federal provision says, and how much of it was read

Section 90(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations prescribes the Quebec investor class, under subsection 12(2) of the Act, as a class of persons who may become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada. Section 90(2) then sets membership: intention to reside in Quebec, and being named in a Certificat de sélection du Québec. That defines class membership, not all the requirements for permanent residence.

In section 88(1) the definitions of investor, entrepreneur, investment, approved fund and minimum net worth each bear the same note: repealed, SOR/2016-316, section 4. The definition of self-employed person is still there. The note at the foot of section 90 is SOR/2016-316, section 5, so the notes attribute both changes to one instrument, which was not read.

Within the Regulations, only sections 88, 89 and 90 were read; whether other provisions impose additional conditions was not established.

What happened to the applications already filed

Subject to the exceptions below, section 87.5 of the Act terminates an application for a permanent resident visa as a member of the prescribed class of investors or of entrepreneurs where, before 11 February 2014, an officer had not established whether the applicant met the selection criteria and the other requirements. It was enacted by 2014, chapter 20, section 303.

Two exceptions are written in: an application by an investor or entrepreneur selected by a province whose government has entered into an agreement under subsection 9(1), and an application on which a superior court has made a final determination before 11 February 2014.

For the applications that did terminate, the fees and an amount equal to the investment made must both be returned without interest, and no right of recourse or indemnity lies against the Crown. Separately, a termination is not a decision refusing a visa.

Section 87.5 uses that date to sort pending applications; it does not establish when intake closed, and no source read here does.

What Quebec asks for, in money

Quebec’s conditions page, updated on 6 August 2026, requires a net worth of at least CAD 2,000,000, excluding gifts received in the six months before the application, and shareable with a spouse included in it. Its lawful origin and accrual must be shown, by the spouse too even where their assets are not needed to reach the minimum.

The applicant signs an investment agreement with a financial intermediary that holds participation agreements with the Ministère and with Investissement Québec Immigrants Investisseurs Inc. On the applicant’s behalf, and within 120 days of the Ministère’s request, that intermediary makes a five-year term investment of CAD 1,000,000 and a financial contribution of CAD 200,000 to the same company. The Gouvernement du Québec guarantees the investment, and at the end of the term the intermediary returns the CAD 1,000,000 without interest within thirty days.

The investment’s income, and the contribution itself, go to the Business Assistance – Immigrant Investor Program and the Fonds de développement du marché du travail. On whether the CAD 200,000 comes back, the page says nothing either way.

What Quebec asks for besides money

Spoken French at level seven or above on the Québec scale of French proficiency levels, shown by accepted evidence even where French is the applicant’s mother tongue, with results less than two years old at submission. The list is closed: TCF-Québec, TCF-Canada, TCF, DALF and DELF from France Éducation international, and TEFAQ, TEF Canada and TEF from the CCIP-IDF, each issued by the body that provides it. The accepted alternatives are the general, vocational and technological baccalauréats issued by France’s education ministry, the CESS of the French Community of Belgium, and a Certificat de maturité from a school in a French-speaking Swiss canton. The Ministère may call an interview to check the level declared.

The conditions also require at least two years of management experience acquired within the five years before the application, and not in payday lending, cheque cashing, pawnbroking, pornography or services in the sex industry. There is an education requirement, and an attestation of learning about democratic and Quebec values, to be obtained within sixty days of being requested — also by an accompanying spouse aged 16 or over and dependent children aged 18 or over.

The order of the steps

Where the conditions are met and Quebec has received confirmation of the investment, it issues a notice of intention to select. That notice supports an application to Canada for an open work permit, subject to an intention to live in Quebec and the general requirements. The federal page refuses applications made more than six months after the notice, and gives the permit’s status as open since 1 January 2024.

Then the residence. Within two years of the permit being issued, the stay in Quebec must total at least twelve months: at least six by the applicant personally, the rest by the applicant or the spouse. Proof is mailed to the Ministère.

The notice of intention to select is not the certificate. Federal guidance states that an applicant must obtain a Certificat de sélection du Québec before applying for permanent residence.

Intake, and what an assessment costs

Applications may be submitted at any time, with no maximum number to be received. The permanent-selection review fee from 1 January 2026 is CAD 18,241 for the principal applicant and nothing for a spouse or dependent child, and is not refundable even where the application is rejected. The two mandatory forms are published in French only. Federal permanent-residence fees are listed from CAD 2,495.

What this article does not establish

Whether the CAD 1,000,000 must come from the CAD 2,000,000 net worth, or may be borrowed: the page does not say, and nothing else was read on it.

The Quebec regulations could not be read: the provincial legislation site returned a 502 on both addresses tried on 21 September 2026. That is a server failure, and says nothing about their contents.

The complete process after the qualifying stay was not established. The sources do establish that evidence of the stay goes to the Ministère, and that a Certificat de sélection du Québec is required before applying for permanent residence. Processing times, and whether Quebec’s 2026 admission targets bear on this programme, were not established.