The same federal program is also listed under Other Program. The status is the same in both places.
Federal Self-Employed
A small permanent-residence category for relevant experience in cultural activities or athletics, and a significant contribution to cultural or athletic life in Canada. The grid has looked at experience, education, age, language, and adaptability.
Right now
- This is not a program for consultants, shop owners, or freelancers in ordinary trades.
- IRCC stopped accepting applications on 30 April 2024. On 19 December 2025 it extended the pause until further notice.
- Applications already in the system continue, with limited capacity. There is no public date for a new application.
- A cultural or athletic candidate who needs an open route looks at skilled-worker programs, if they qualify, or at a provincial entrepreneur stream if they will run a business.
How we can help
- Say whether the work is actually cultural or athletic in the meaning of this program.
- While the pause lasts, we do not file a new federal self-employed application. We look at a route that is open.
- For a file already in process, we keep it moving inside the limited capacity IRCC has described.
Quebec Self-Employed
For a person who will settle in Quebec and practise a profession on their own account, alone or with others, with or without paid help. It is not paused in the way the federal program is paused, and it is not limited to culture and sport.
What has to be true
- At least two years in that profession, in your own name, in the five years before the application. Experience in an ineligible sector does not count.
- Net worth of at least CAD $100,000, which may be shared with a spouse on the file. Donations in the six months before filing are excluded.
- A start-up deposit with a financial institution that has an establishment in Quebec. The amount is higher in the Montréal metropolitan area than elsewhere. Use the figure on the current Quebec page.
- Someone who has already started the work in Quebec can still apply, and still has to meet every condition.
- Quebec selection is followed by the federal permanent-residence application.
How we can help
- Test the two-year “in your own name” history and the $100,000 net worth before a deposit is placed.
- Use the deposit for the region where the profession will actually be practised.
- Keep this file separate from the paused federal cultural program. A painter in Quebec and a painter in the federal program are in different systems.
