Start Your Free Assessment

Tell us a bit about your case and a licensed consultant will get back to you.

Contact Us CC ENG

Castle & Co. does not provide job placement or recruitment services.
For job opportunities in Canada, you can visit our sister company’s career site, Workvantage, by clicking the button below.

Visit Workvantage Careers

Please Provide Full Details:

1. Proposed Position(s), Work Location(s), Hourly Rate, Hours per Week, Contract Duration.
2. Staffing at Location: Total Employee Count & Number of Temporary Foreign Workers currently employed.
3. Year of Business Incorporation/Establishment.
4. Additional Notes.

Please Include the Following:

1. Nature of Care (childcare, senior support, medical needs) & Profile of Care Recipient(s) (e.g., age, specific health conditions).
2. Living Arrangement (Live-in vs. Live-out), Hourly Rate & Hours per Week.
3. Prospective Applicant (if known): Age, Highest Educational Credential, Language Proficiency (English/French), and Related Work History.
4. Additional Notes.

Please Provide Full Details:

1. Sponsor’s Legal Status (Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident) & Current Residence (Country/Province).
2. Partner Being Sponsored: Citizenship & Current Country of Residence.
3. Number of accompanying dependent children.
4. Sponsorship Background:
- Has the Sponsor submitted a sponsorship application in the past?
- Was the Sponsor sponsored as a spouse in the last 5 years?
5. Is the Sponsor currently in Undischarged Bankruptcy, receiving Social Assistance (welfare), or in default of child support or immigration loans?
6. Relationship Details: Date of Marriage or date common-law cohabitation began.
7. Admissibility Issues: Does the sponsor or the applicant have any history of criminal charges, severe health conditions, or prior visa denials from any country?
8. Current Status & Past Marriages: If the applicant is currently residing in Canada, what is their active immigration status? Have any prior marriages for either party been officially dissolved by divorce?
9. Additional Notes.

Please Include the Following:

1. Applicant Citizenship & Current Country of Residence (Please specify your Status, e.g., Worker, Student, PR).
2. Reason for Travel, Intended Arrival/Departure Dates & Length of Stay.
3. Are you visiting specific relatives or friends? (Please specify relationship).
4. Details of any previous Canadian or US visa applications or refusals.
5. Available Funds & Reasons to Return Home (e.g., Employment, Assets, Family obligations).
6. Additional Notes.

Please Include the Following:

If through your Canadian ancestry (you may already be a Canadian citizen by law — no residence, tax or language history needed):

1. Which relative connects you to Canada (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent…) and how they became Canadian (born in Canada, naturalized, or by descent).

2. What you can provide to support your claim (e.g., birth/marriage certificates, your ancestor's citizenship or naturalization record).

If you are a permanent resident (citizenship by grant):

1. Date your Permanent Residence was obtained.

2. Total number of days spent in Canada during the past 5 years (estimate is fine).

3. Did you hold temporary status in Canada (e.g., Student, Worker) before becoming a PR? If yes, type and duration.

4. Have you filed Canadian Income Tax Returns for at least 3 of the last 5 years?

5. Proficiency level in English or French (Basic, Intermediate, Fluent).

6. Prohibitions & Background: any criminal history (convictions, probation, or parole, inside or outside Canada); and whether you are currently subject to a Removal Order or under investigation by immigration authorities.

Additional notes (either case).

Please Include the Following:

1. Applicant (Parent/Grandparent):
- Citizenship & Current Country of Residence.
- Details of prior Canadian or US visa applications or refusals.
- Do you have any significant pre-existing medical conditions?
2. Host (Child/Grandchild in Canada):
- Legal Status (Citizen or Permanent Resident).
- Household Composition: Total count of individuals residing in the home (including spouse and dependents).
- Gross Annual Household Income.
3. Additional Notes.

Please Provide Full Details:

1. Employment Status: Do you have a valid Job Offer? (Include Employer Name, Role, LMIA approval status, or if applying as an Intra-Company Transferee).
2. Open Work Permit (if applicable): Please specify your category (e.g., Spouse of Student/Worker, PGWP, or International Experience Canada/IEC).
3. Background: Summary of relevant Work History and details of any previous Canadian visa applications or refusals.
4. Additional Notes.

Please Provide the Following Details:

1. Proposed Study Plan: Program Name, Academic Level (e.g., Diploma, Master's), and status of Letter of Acceptance (LOA).
2. Language Proficiency: Standardized Test Scores (IELTS, CELPIP, TEF).
3. Economic Establishment: Source of Funds & Ties to Home Country (reasons to return).
4. Visa History: Details of any previous applications or refusals for Canada or the US.
5. Additional Comments.

Please Provide Full Details:

1. Current Immigration Status: Type of permit (e.g., Visitor, Student, Worker) & Expiration Date.
2. Justification for Extension:
- Study: (e.g., New Letter of Acceptance).
- Work: (e.g., Updated LMIA or Job Offer details).
- Visitor: (Purpose of continued stay, e.g., ongoing tourism, family visit, or pending Spousal Sponsorship).
3. Additional Notes.

Please Provide Details for Principal Applicant and Spouse:

1. Personal Profile: Age, Citizenship, Marital Status, Highest Educational Credential, Language Proficiency (IELTS, CELPIP, TEF), and Settlement Funds.
2. Work History (Past 10 Years):
- Total years of Foreign Skilled Work.
- Total years of In-Canada Skilled Work.
3. Proposed Province of Residence (e.g., Ontario, Quebec, BC).
4. Canadian Ties: Relatives in Canada, prior Canadian study/work history, or Valid Job Offer.
5. Additional Notes.

1. What program do you need help with?
2. Share your current citizenship, residence, and immigration status—and whether you have family in Canada.
3. Are you looking to apply, renew or appeal?
4. Let us know if you're working toward a deadline or have key dates in mind.
5. Observations (provide details).

Castle & Co. — Canadian Immigration Consultants

Arrima and the PSTQ: How Quebec Actually Selects Skilled Workers

•
Start Your Process Now
Couple practising French together at a table in a Montreal apartment

Arrima and the PSTQ get used as if they were the same thing, and they are not. One is a portal. The other is a programme. Knowing which is which changes what you are actually waiting for.

Quebec selects its own economic immigrants, and the process does not work like the federal one. Here is how it really runs.

What is the difference between Arrima and the PSTQ?

Arrima is the platform where you declare your interest. The PSTQ is the programme that selects you.

The Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés is Quebec’s skilled worker selection programme — the route for people who want to settle in Quebec permanently and work there.

Arrima is where that starts. You complete a declaration of interest in Arrima, it goes into a bank of declarations, and your profile is scored against a set of criteria.

So “I applied through Arrima” is not a thing that happens. What happens is that you place a scored profile into a pool and wait to be picked out of it. Until you are invited, you have not applied for anything.

How does the process actually work?

Person climbing a Montreal exterior staircase, a picture of Quebec's selection process in stages

Three stages, and you cannot skip or reorder any of them.

  1. You submit an expression of interest in Arrima. This is free to enter and it is not an application.
  2. You receive an invitation. Quebec is explicit: you must receive an invitation before submitting an application for permanent selection. No invitation, no application.
  3. You are selected and receive the CSQ — the Québec Selection Certificate.

The CSQ is the provincial half. Once you hold it, you apply to IRCC for permanent residence. Quebec selects; Canada admits. That order never changes.

Is it actually open, or is this theoretical?

Open and running. There were invitation rounds throughout 2026.

The most recent one we verified was on August 27, 2026, which issued 87 invitations under Volet 1. Before that, rounds ran on January 29, February 26, March 19-20, April 30, June 4, July 3 and July 30.

Volet 2 also had rounds: January 29, February 26, March 19-20, April 30 and June 4.

Two things that list tells you. Rounds happen roughly monthly, and the number of invitations in a round can be small. Being in the pool is not the same as being close to the front of it.

What French do you actually need?

Two people practising French in conversation at a Montreal café

It depends on your stream, and the requirement is not the same for speaking and writing.

StreamFrench required
Volet 1 — Highly Qualified and Specialized SkillsOral level 7 or higher, written level 5 or higher
Volet 2 — Intermediate and Manual SkillsSpoken level 5 or higher
Volet 3 — Regulated ProfessionsTEER 0-2: same as Volet 1. TEER 3-5: spoken level 5 or higher
Volet 4 — Exceptional TalentNo specific French requirement stated
Your spouse, any streamSpoken level 4 or higher

The detail people miss is the last row. Your spouse has their own French requirement, and it applies across every stream. A couple planning around one person’s language level is planning around half the problem.

The other detail worth noticing: Volet 1 asks for written French at a lower level than spoken. Quebec is asking you to be able to hold a conversation more than to write an essay, which is a reasonable thing to know before you choose which test to prepare for.

So what should you do first?

  1. Work out which volet fits your occupation. The French requirement follows from that, not the other way round.
  2. Check both partners’ French, not just yours. Level 4 spoken for the spouse, in every stream.
  3. Put the declaration in Arrima and treat it as the beginning, not the application. It costs nothing to be in the pool.
  4. Understand that the CSQ is half the process. IRCC comes afterwards, with its own timeline.

Where we come in

Castle & Co. works with people on the part of this that decides whether you get invited at all:

  • Identifying which volet your profile actually fits
  • Reading your score against what recent rounds have been inviting
  • Planning the French for both partners, in the right order
  • Preparing the permanent selection application once the invitation arrives

If you are not sure whether your profile is competitive, start your process now and we will tell you where you stand before you spend a year preparing for the wrong stream.

On this page

Talk to a licensed consultant

We prepare your file end-to-end — from the paperwork to the final decision.

Start Now

Keep reading

Scroll to Top