COSTI Immigrant Services
COSTI Settlement Services
COSTI's settlement services in Ontario are free. They cover orientation, forms, interpretation, referrals, and employment guidance, including credential recognition.
Last checked October 19, 2026
Gouvernement du Québec
Premières démarches d'installation
Quebec's free three-hour 'first steps' session, in French, covers the health-insurance card, the SIN, banking, housing, school, taxes, and jobs. The federal settlement finder does not list Quebec agencies.
- Last checked
- October 19, 2026
- Source
- Gouvernement du Québec, first steps to settling in
- Audience
- Permanent residents, Temporary workers, International students, Refugees and protected persons
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What we could verify
- Free, three hours, offered in French by partner organizations across Quebec.
- You need intermediate French, and you must be 18 or older.
- Topics include the health-insurance card, social insurance, driver's licence, opening a bank account, housing, daycare and school, taxes and family benefits, employment services, Accompagnement Québec, and the comparative evaluation of studies done outside Quebec.
- Status rules include permanent residents, naturalized citizens, protected persons, many temporary workers in Quebec for a year or more, foreign students in Quebec for more than six months, and people authorized to apply for permanent residence.
- IRCC tells people in Quebec to use provincial integration services instead of the federal finder.
Quebec runs integration itself. If you land in Montreal with only the federal finder open, you will get a message to look at Quebec's services. This session is the structured version of the first-week list: which card to get, in which order, and which office does it.
The language rule is real. The page says the session is in French and that you need an intermediate level. If your French is not there yet, ask the partner organization what other services exist, including francisation courses, which the same ministry promotes. Objectif Intégration is a follow-on session the page also names. Government-assisted refugees have a separate host-organization path with help in the first week for banking, the SIN, the health card, school, and housing.
Who it is for
Age 18 or older, intermediate French, and one of the status conditions on the Quebec page. Temporary workers and students must also respect the conditions of their permit.
How to act on it
Find a partner organization on the Quebec.ca page for Premières démarches d'installation and register. The session is not something you complete online by yourself.
Also in settlement services
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
IRCC pre-arrival services
If your permanent residence is approved and you are still outside Canada, you can register for free online settlement services before you fly. Temporary residents are not eligible.
Last checked October 19, 2026
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
IRCC settlement service finder
The federal government funds free settlement help outside Quebec: job search, language classes, help getting licensed, and someone to build a settlement plan with you. A postal-code search finds the agency.
Last checked October 19, 2026