Quebec's permanent immigration pilot program for workers in food processing

The pilot program offers permanent residency to temporary foreign workers in in-demand professions in food processing sector. Up to 550 candidates will be invited annually under this pilot, with their families being able to immigrate, too. The program will run until January 1, 2026.

Eligibility

You must meet the following requirements:

• be 18 years of age or older;
• intent to live and work in the province of Quebec;
• have 24 months of work experience in Quebec within the last 36 months and work in Quebec in a relevant field;
• have a diploma of completion of an academic program of at least 1 year;
• demonstrate the French language ability at level 7 on the Quebec scale of competency levels (upper-intermediate);
• show financial self-sufficiency (see below);
• obtain an attestation of learning about democratic values and the Quebec values expressed by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Suitable occupations

To apply for the pilot, you must have one of the appropriate specialties:

• industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related worker;
• labourers in food and beverage processing;
• labourers in fish and seafood;
• specialized cleaners;
• process control and machine operators in food and beverage processing;
• general farm workers (chicken catchers only);
• fish and seafood plant workers.

Settlement funds

You must prove that you have enough money, depending on your family composition. The amounts are in Canadian dollars:

How to apply

To apply for the immigration pilot for workers in food processing, you must fill out a form in French. The form also lists the required documents, they need to be scanned and saved in PDF format. After that, you need to create an account in the Arrima system. The system will ask you to provide information about yourself and about your family members who intend to immigrate with you. There you will also upload the completed form.