🧭 The Family Integration Pathway: What the MIFI Already Does — and What It Could Do Better

🔹 1. The sponsor’s commitments

Under the MIFI sponsorship undertaking form (A-0546-GF), the sponsor’s responsibility is not only financial.

The sponsor also commits to:

• help the sponsored person register for Accompagnement Québec;

• support French learning by informing them about available courses and helping with registration;

• assist with settlement (housing, healthcare, schools, essential services);

• provide information about Québec’s social values and democratic life;

• support employment and credential recognition efforts.

In other words, sponsors are already key integration actors, yet they have no access to the tools or systems they are expected to mobilize.

🔹 2. Current programs

🗣️Francisation Québec

Free full-time, part-time, or online French courses, with a participation allowance.

→ Available only after arrival in Québec.

• Financial assistance is provided only for full-time study, and requires a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN).

• No financial support exists for part-time study, even though that is often the only realistic option for parents, workers, or students.

🧾 Comparative Evaluation of Studies Completed Outside Québec

An essential service to have a foreign diploma officially recognized.

→ The process is entirely paper-based, often taking up to six months and subject to postal delays or strikes.

• The documentation requirements (certified copies, translations, official seals) are often difficult to meet from within Québec, especially when foreign academic institutions respond slowly or require in-person procedures.

💰Financial Assistance Program for the Recognition of Competencies (PAFFARC)

An interest-free loan program to help cover the costs of professional recognition (exams, bridging programs, internships).

→ Not available to people waiting for permanent residence under a temporary status, even when they are already working or training.

🧭Objectif Intégration

A free 24-hour course covering Québec values, institutions, and the workplace.

→ Not mandatory for sponsored family members, but could become part of the integration path if the government deems it appropriate.

→ A Zoom or hybrid format is already available upon arrival, but the attendance certificate could be automatically added to the MIFI file, eliminating extra steps.

🤝 Accompagnement Québec

A personalized guidance and referral service connecting newcomers to MIFI programs and community partners.

→ Currently, only the newcomer can use this platform.

Proposal:

Allow the sponsor to act by proxy for Accompagnement Québec, particularly while the sponsored person is still abroad.

This would let the sponsor prepare the settlement process, receive official MIFI information, and coordinate services in advance.

🔹 3. Current limitations

Each of these programs serves an important purpose — but their impact remains limited by:

• rigid eligibility rules (CSQ, SIN, or permanent status required);

• paper-based procedures that slow everything down;

• a lack of access for sponsors, who are nonetheless legally responsible for integration.

And this is exactly why Québec must resume issuing CSQs (Certificat de sélection du Québec) for sponsored spouses and partners.

Without a CSQ, families cannot access French courses, Accompagnement Québec, or credential recognition services before arrival.

The CSQ is the gateway to all MIFI programs.

As long as it remains suspended, the entire integration process is blocked before it even begins.

🔹 4. Areas for improvement

1️⃣ Enable pre-arrival French learning

• Broaden the list of recognized training providers (beyond Alliance Française).

• Reimburse certified private French courses taken abroad.

• Offer an online MIFI module upon CSQ issuance, with beginner-level live videoconference classes.

2️⃣ Make regional French training more flexible

• Reimburse private or semi-private French courses when the public offer is insufficient.

• Create a flexible learning credit for people working irregular hours or needing intensive courses.

3️⃣ Digitize credential recognition

• Allow digital submission of all documents for comparative evaluation, ending reliance on postal services.

• Facilitate secure electronic transfers between educational institutions.

• Extend PAFFARC eligibility to people awaiting permanent residence.

4️⃣ Increase visibility of Objectif Intégration

• Integrate the course into the sponsored person’s pathway if the government so decides.

• Centralize attendance certificates within the MIFI file.

5️⃣ Recognize and equip sponsors

• Give sponsors real access to Accompagnement Québec, even from abroad.

• Create a simplified dashboard to track progress in French learning and administrative steps.

🔹 In summary

Québec already has solid integration programs — but they function in silos.

The challenge is not to reinvent the system, but to connect, simplify, and open it to the families and sponsors who depend on it.

Integration isn’t about ticking boxes.

It’s about understanding, supporting, and building together.