Programme de l'expérience québécoise (PEQ)

The Programme de l'expérience québécoise (PEQ), or Quebec Experience Program, is a permanent immigration pathway for temporary foreign workers and international graduates who have gained skilled work experience in Quebec. It offers a simplified route to the Certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ), the provincial selection document required before applying for permanent residence with the federal government. Knowledge of French is a core requirement, and conditions differ between the two streams: Quebec workers and Quebec graduates.

The PEQ has gone through major changes in recent years. The graduate stream was suspended on October 31, 2024, and the program as a whole stopped accepting applications on November 19, 2025. As of July 2, 2026, the PEQ has reopened for a limited two-year period ending July 2, 2028. In this first phase, applications are accepted from July 2 to October 31, 2026, and only from people who already met the program's criteria before the November 2025 closure. One notable change: the requirement to have completed an eligible program of study in French (or three years of full-time study in French) has been removed from the graduate stream's selection conditions.

Because the PEQ's rules, intake windows, and quotas have changed repeatedly, always verify the current requirements on the official Québec.ca website of the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI) before preparing an application. Obtaining a CSQ through the PEQ is a provincial selection step only; permanent residence still depends on meeting federal requirements.