Work Permit Quebec (CAQ)

YOU SELECTED THIS OPTION BECAUSE:You would like to sponsor an employee as soon as possible in the province of Quebec.

Companies located in the province of Quebec, such as Montreal and Quebec City, must obtain special authorization by the Federal and Quebec Ministry of Immigration before a work permit is issued. The extra layer of bureaucracy occurs in two places – on the employer side as well as on the employee side (the foreign worker).

Quebec employer requirements are similar to the Federal process of hiring a foreign employee with three variances from the federal rules:

• Quebec has its own salary standards for determining “prevailing wages”.
• Quebec employers must file through the Quebec provincial job bank at Emploi-Québec for a 4-week period as opposed to the federally-administered job bank.
• Quebec requires that your immigration consultant hold a Quebec license to represent your employee (or employer) case file.

To meet Quebec employee requirements the foreign worker must have a concurring approval letter from both Quebec and the federal branch when applying for a work permit through a visa post or inland processing center.

In Quebec, authorization by MIDI (Ministère Immigration Diversité et Inclusion) in addition to the federal ESDC administration is generally required when sponsoring an employee. In short, both MIDI and ESDC must concur with a decision to hire a foreign worker before the employee can submit a work permit application to a Consulate or Embassy of Canada.

The result of a joint Quebec-Federal “positive opinion” is the issuance of an approved Certificat d’Acceptation du Québec (CAQ) and concurring positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) (previously an LMO) from ESDC or Services Canada.

Upon obtaining the required Quebec (CAQ) and LMIA certificates, a copy of the “joint” LMIA and an original CAQ certificate is forwarded to the foreign worker in support of his work permit at the consulate or inland processing office. Our firm can handle both the employer paperwork as well as the work visa for the foreign worker; and both the federal process as well as the Quebec one.

Our lead immigration practitioner (Marc Laforce) is one of perhaps a handful of US-based offices who is both federally and Quebec licensed (as required by law in Quebec). We can speak both official languages (English and French) which allows for the swift processing of applications in Quebec. The bilingualism is a significant advantage given Quebec civil servants are under no obligation whatsoever to correspond or speak in English with employers or applicants.

Firm deliverables for work permits in Quebec:

• Local Research of the prevailing wage in Quebec
• Drafting of a compliant advertising campaign for the mandatory 4-week posting
• Management of the 4-week mandatory campaign
• Write-Up of a compliant offer letter
• Preparation and filing of Quebec forms on employer’s behalf
• Preparation and filing of federal forms on employer’s behalf
• Preparation and filing of employee forms for issuance of a work permit at a visa post
• Interview preparation with the employer (MIDI/ESDC) and employee (CIC)
• Representation on the employee’s behalf upon landing in Canada at the border/airport