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The route most people from Haiti take, the mistake to avoid, and the facts that change because you are applying from Haiti, each read from the official page it links.
Each year since 2022, most Haitians granted permanent residence in Canada were humanitarian cases, refugees protected in Canada or sponsored relatives, according to the admissions data of IRCC, Canada's immigration department. IRCC's special measures for Haitians are temporary, helping people in Canada or already applying for permanent residence; check that page for their current status. IRCC's family-based humanitarian program for Colombians, Haitians and Venezuelans is closed. For those choosing to migrate, skilled worker programmes led the economic routes, and French counts: Express Entry, the online system inviting top-scoring skilled workers to apply for permanent residence, adds points for it, and Quebec, which selects its own skilled workers, requires it of everyone except exceptional-talent applicants.
Start with a French test, TEF Canada or TCF Canada: Express Entry accepts a French result alone, and Quebec, which asks even native speakers for proof, takes both. Then get your educational credential assessment, a report on what your diploma equals in Canada. The police certificate comes last: the DCPJ, the central criminal investigation police in Port-au-Prince, needs a letter from IRCC, which you request in your permanent residence application. From abroad, a relative or friend in Haiti can apply, with fingerprints taken by local police or a Haitian consulate. IRCC does not accept certificates from regional police offices, such as a certificat de bonne vie et mœurs (good conduct certificate).
The mistake to avoid is planning around a diploma that may not be assessed. WES, one of the assessors IRCC designates, says in its document tool that it does not evaluate records from many Haitian institutions, universities and nursing schools among them. Express Entry counts foreign study only once assessed; if a university or college diploma falls short of a Canadian one, IRCC lets your secondary school diploma be assessed instead. Before relying on a Haitian degree, look the institution up in WES's tool; if WES will not assess it, ask another designated assessor.
Express Entry asks a single applicant to show CAD 15,263 in settlement funds, about HTG 1,401,128 at the latest cached exchange rate; larger families need more.
A qualification from Haiti is assessed for Canada by one of these organisations: World Education Services (WES), International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS), International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS), International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES) and Comparative Education Service (CES).
A police certificate from the Direction centrale de la police judiciaire (DCPJ, Haiti's central criminal investigation police) in Port-au-Prince, not a regional police office. Apply in person (your fingerprints are taken there); from abroad, a friend or relative in Haiti can apply for you.
Canada has no youth mobility agreement with Haiti today, so citizens of Haiti can join International Experience Canada only through a recognized organization that accepts them.
Tests Canada accepts with centres in Haiti include TEF Canada and TCF Canada.
In the 2021 census, 86% of immigrants born in Haiti lived in Quebec, more than in any other province or territory.
Quebec is also where they are most concentrated compared with other immigrants.
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