New Students

Please consult the Arrima payment instructions prepared by the ISS immigration advising team.

What are the Application Management Rules?

• The Government of Quebec has set a cap on the amount of CAQ’s that can be issued each year to each institution.
• The Application Management Rules determine if you are exempt from the CAQ cap or not.

Are you exempt?

• In the CAQ application, you will be asked “Are you eligible for an exemption set out in the application management rules indicated in the Table of exemptions from management of requests?”
• In most cases, the following students are not exempt from the Application Management Rules and should answer NO:
  • Newly admitted students applying for their first CAQ or
  • Students applying for a CAQ because they are changing levels of study or schools in Quebec.
• Only in very limited circumstances would a new student qualify for this exemption. For the list of exemptions, see the Immigration Quebec webpage.

• It depends.
  • If your CAQ was issued to you for a different institution before December 6^th 2024, you may still use it for your studies at McGill if the CAQ is for the same level of studies as your new program at McGill. For example, if your CAQ is for Université - premier cycle, you may use it to complete your undergraduate studies at McGill. If it is for Université - deuxième or troisième cycle, you may not use it for your undergraduate studies as these are for Master’s and Doctorate studies, respectively.
  • If your CAQ was issued to you for a different institution on or after December 6^th 2024, you may not use it for your studies at McGill, even if the CAQ is for the same level of studies as your new program at McGill. You must apply and obtain a new CAQ with Letter of acceptance from McGill before starting your studies at McGill.

• Under normal circumstances, the standard processing time for the CAQ is 25 business days from the day Immigration Quebec confirms in your online portal that they have received your supporting documents. 
• You should continue to monitor the information on your CAQ online portal to verify if any updates have been made in your file.
• If more than 8 weeks have passed, you may wish to contact Immigration Quebec to follow up on your application.

• Under the current conditions for CAQ holders, international students must make their studies their principal activity. This means that in order to respect your CAQ conditions, you must maintain full-time student status every term for the duration of your program, with the exception of your last term.
• Under the current eligibility requirements to work on-campus and off-campus, international students must maintain full-time student status every term for the duration of their program, with the exception of their last term.
• Under the current eligibility requirements for the post-graduation work permit (PGWP), international students must maintain full-time student status every term for the duration of their program, with the exception of their last term.
• We, therefore, recommend that all international students maintain full-time student status for the duration of their program with the exception of their last term, so as not to compromise their ability to extend their CAQ, maintain authorization to work on and off-campus or their eligibility for the PGWP.
• If you must be part-time due to extenuating circumstances such as health issues or a family emergency, please contact us so that we may best advise you. You may also wish to review our part-time studies information sheet.

• You can apply for your documents under either nationality, however there are certain advantages to applying under your French nationality for your CAQ and your US nationality for your study permit.
• French citizens are exempt from the international tuition fee. Therefore, when applying for your immigration documents and providing proof of your financial capacity, you should include proof of your French citizenship in order to prove why you are exempt from the international tuition fee.
• If you are a US citizen or US permanent resident, you can apply for your study permit directly at the port of entry (land or air border between Canada and the US) and therefore should apply for your study permit with your US passport or US permanent resident card.
• While you may be applying under one nationality for your CAQ and another for your study permit, it is still recommended to include proof of your dual nationality in both applications for the reasons mentioned above.

The offer of admission letter that you will receive from McGill is the official and only letter you will receive. As soon as you receive your admission letter you should apply for your CAQ right away. You do not have to wait until you have met the conditions in your admission letter to apply for your CAQ.

• No. In order to apply for your CAQ, you must have a valid passport. If you have not yet applied for your passport, you should do so immediately and request expedited processing of your passport.
• NOTE: When you apply for your CAQ, your passport must be valid at the time of submission but it does not have to be valid for the entire duration of your studies. As such, if your passport has not yet expired but will expire soon, you should apply for your CAQ before it does, as the expiry of your CAQ is not dependent on the expiry of your passport.

• You do not need to apply for a new CAQ if you defer the start of your program.
• Your CAQ remains valid up until the date of its expiry regardless of how many term(s) you defer, provided you remain at the same level of studies and designated learning institution.

• YES. If submitting financial capacity documents from a joint bank account, both account holders (in this case, your parents) each need to complete and sign a separate Declaration of Financial Support letter.
• As a general rule, when submitting proof of financial capacity, each person who will be supporting you needs to individually sign and date a Declaration of financial support letter and provide supporting documents that clearly demonstrate their financial capacity to provide for you during your studies.
• NOTE: If you will be receiving funding from your department, you should indicate that you are supporting yourself; your department does not need to sign the Declaration of financial support form.

1. You do not have to apply for a new CAQ if you change programs at McGill as long as you meet the following conditions:
   1. Your program of studies is the same length as your original program;
   2. Your original CAQ was issued for university studies;
   3. You do not change the level of study (e.g. Bachelor to Masters).
2. NOTE:  You can find information on when to submit a new application for a CAQ for studies on the MIFI website.
3. Please note that the information is only available in French.

If your checklist includes a request for proof of financial capacity, you - or whoever is supporting you - should provide a confirmation that you/they can cover tuition and fees plus one year of living expenses.