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PSTQ calculator: your Québec Arrima score (Skilled Worker Selection Program)

Québec’s Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) ranks expressions of interest in the Arrima portal with a points grid. This calculator uses every weight in the explanatory document from Québec’s immigration ministry (MIFI), updated June 26, 2026. The grid is published in French only, so the French version of this page is the reference.

Last checked: October 27, 2026 · Dr. Muhammad Anas

How to use this calculator

Say whether your spouse is coming with you, then enter your French levels from 1 to 12.
Add your age, work experience and education (human capital).
Fill in Québec’s needs: your occupation’s diagnostic, your ties to Québec and any job offer.
Compare your score with the minimum score of the latest invitation round that targets your profile.

Tap or click the next to a field to see what to enter and how it is scored.

Your situation

My spouse or common-law partner is coming with me

Your French (level on the Échelle québécoise, 1 to 12)

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Writing

Convert your TEF, TCF, DELF or DALF result with Québec’s correspondence tables.

Age

Months of skilled work experience (last 5 years)

Highest level of education

Québec’s needs

Labour diagnostic of your main occupation

From Québec’s medium-term diagnostic list for 516 NOC occupations.

Months in your main occupation (last 5 years)

Diploma earned in Québec

Months of work in Québec (last 5 years)

Months living in Québec outside the CMM

CMM: the Montréal Metropolitan Community.

Months working in Québec outside the CMM

Months studying in Québec outside the CMM

Validated job offer in your main occupation

I hold an authorization to practise my main occupation in Québec, or partial or full recognition from its regulatory body

Adaptation

Study stay in Québec without a Québec diploma

Length of the study stay (months)

Relative in Québec (18+, citizen or permanent resident)

Spouse or common-law partner

Spouse’s French (levels 1 to 12)

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Writing

Spouse’s age

Spouse’s months of work in Québec

Spouse’s education

Spouse’s Québec diploma

Lisez en français : calculateur PSTQ. The PSTQ is a Québec program, separate from Express Entry. Québec selection (a CSQ) gives no CRS points. Your score in Arrima always takes precedence over this estimate.

How the score works

The grid has three groups: human capital (up to 520 points), Québec’s needs and government priorities (700) and adaptation factors (180). Québec does not publish a single overall maximum, and some factors cannot all be earned together, so we do not show one.

Factor	Single	With spouse
French, per skill (4 skills): level 5–6 / 7–8 / 9+	38 / 44 / 50	30 / 35 / 40
Age: 20 to 30	120	100
Age: 18–19 / 31 / 35 / 40 / 44	110 / 110 / 75 / 50 / 10	90 / 95 / 68 / 45 / 9
Work experience: 12 / 24 / 36 / 48+ months	20 / 40 / 50 / 70	15 / 30 / 35 / 50

Education	Single	With spouse	Spouse	Québec diploma
General secondary completed	13	11	2	20
Vocational secondary 600–899 h (Québec diploma)	13	11	2	20
Vocational secondary 900 h or more (Québec diploma)	26	22	4	40
Vocational secondary 1 year+ full time (outside Québec)	26	22	4	—
General post-secondary 2 years full time	39	33	6	60
Technical post-secondary 900 h or more (Québec diploma)	52	44	8	80
Technical post-secondary 1 or 2 years full time (outside Québec)	52	44	8	—
Technical post-secondary 3 years full time	78	66	12	120
Undergraduate university, 1 year	78	66	12	120
Undergraduate university, 2 years	91	77	14	140
Undergraduate university, 3 or 4 years	104	88	16	160
Undergraduate university, 5 years or more	110	93	17	170
Graduate (master’s level), 1 year	110	93	17	170
Graduate (master’s level), 2 years or more	117	99	18	180
Medical specialization, 2 years or more	130	110	20	200
Doctorate (3rd cycle)	130	110	20	200

Québec’s needs	Points
Main occupation, 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months: balanced	5 / 10 / 15 / 25
… slight shortage	70 / 80 / 90 / 100
… shortage	90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Work in Québec: 12 / 24 / 36 / 48+ months	40 / 80 / 120 / 160
Living outside the CMM: 6 / 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months	6 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 40
Working outside the CMM: 6 / 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months	9 / 24 / 36 / 48 / 60
Studying outside the CMM: 6 / 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months	3 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20
Validated job offer: outside / inside the CMM	50 / 30
Authorization to practise, or recognition by the regulator	50

Adaptation	Points
Study stay without a diploma, completed: 6 / 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months	1 / 3 / 5 / 8 / 10
Study stay without a diploma, in progress: 6 / 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months	5 / 12 / 18 / 24 / 30
Relative in Québec: yours / your spouse’s	10 / 5
Spouse’s French, per skill: level 4 / 5–6 / 7–8 / 9+	4 / 6 / 8 / 10
Spouse’s age: 16 to 30 / 35 / 40 / 44	18–20 / 14 / 6 / 2
Spouse’s work in Québec: 6 / 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 months	5 / 10 / 15 / 23 / 30

Months only count if earned in the five years before Québec extracts the Arrima pool. Main-occupation months are capped at 60. The invitations page says the authorization points apply to stream 3 (regulated professions), while the explanatory document doesn’t add that limit, so confirm your case with the ministry.

Latest invitation cut-offs

Stream (September 24, 2026)	Invitations	Minimum score per exercise
1 – High qualification and specialized skills	86	634 / 706 / 696
2 – Intermediate and manual skills	316	631 / 706 / 698 / 611
3 – Regulated professions	110	631 / 697 / 696 / 380
4 – Exceptional talent	7	no minimum score

There is no lottery. Québec first picks a profile (stream, occupations, French, education, living in Québec) and then invites the highest scores in it until it reaches the number it wants. A score above the minimum is not enough if you don’t match the profile. The 2026 exercises took place on January 29, February 26, March 19 and 20, April 30, June 4, July 3, July 30, August 27 and September 24.

Also looking at federal options? Check your Express Entry CRS score, see the latest draws, or try the OINP points calculator for Ontario.

FAQ

What is the PSTQ?

Québec’s Skilled Worker Selection Program (Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés). You file an expression of interest in Arrima, Québec invites profiles stream by stream, and selected people get a Québec Selection Certificate (CSQ) before applying for federal permanent residence.

What PSTQ score do I need?

It depends on the exercise. On September 24, 2026 the minimums ran from 380 to 706 depending on the stream and target profile, and stream 4 had no minimum. Matching the targeted profile matters as much as the score.

How do I convert TEF or TCF results to Échelle québécoise levels?

Use the correspondence tables from Québec’s immigration ministry, linked in its explanatory document on the points, then enter the level for each of the four skills.

Does the PSTQ give Express Entry points?

No. Québec selects its own economic immigrants and does not take part in the Express Entry provincial nominee system, so a CSQ adds no CRS points.

Official sources

Last checked: October 27, 2026