On July 2, 2025, the Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration published an order establishing the invitation criteria and scoring for the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés – PSTQ (Skilled Worker Selection Program).
The restart, which was announced on June 5, 2025, allows invitations to be issued to apply for permanent selection through this program, which replaced the Programme régulier des travailleurs qualifiés – PRTQ (Regular Skilled Worker Program) on November 29, 2024.
- Invitations will first target people already living in Québec. They will primarily prioritize people who speak French, have work experience or studied in Québec, in particular in the regions, and who practise an occupation that contributes to relieving the labor shortage
- To be invited under the PSTQ, interested persons must have already declared their interest in Arrima. Those who already declared their interest before November 29, 2024 must update their declaration of interest form.
- Applications for permanent selection already submitted under the Programme régulier des travailleurs qualifiés (PRTQ – Regular Skilled Worker Program), before it was repealed on November 29, 2024, continue to be reviewed by the Ministry according to the conditions that were in place for this program.
The PSTQ’s invitation criteria were designed according to the program’s four streams, which cover all of the occupations in the Québec labour market. Stream 1 (Highly qualified and specialized skills) and Stream 2 (Intermediate and manual skills) cover occupations according to their “training, education, experience and responsibilities” (FEER) category and the work experience acquired. Stream 3 pertains to regulated professions in Québec and Stream 4 to exceptional talent.
In the PSTQ, there is greater value placed on the criteria regarding holding a diploma from Québec or having Québec work experience, in particular for people who reside in the regions, than there was in the PRTQ. Knowledge of French continues to be an essential criteria, since it is a selection condition for streams 1, 2 and 3 of the PSTQ.
A new self-evaluation tool will be put online shortly to enable people who wish to submit a declaration of interest in Arrima to first evaluate the score they could obtain based on the criteria in place.
Erickson Insights & Analysis
Erickson Immigration Group will continue monitoring developments and sharing updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or if you have case-specific questions.