How to Become a Registered Nurse in Quebec

The short answer

To practise as a Registered Nurse in Quebec you must hold a permit from the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) and be registered on the OIIQ Roll — the permit alone is not enough to practise. The standard route: finish a Quebec nursing program, get the status of candidate for the profession of nursing (CEPI), pass the OIIQ professional examination, receive your permit, and register on the Roll. Quebec does not use the NCLEX-RN; its exam is the OIIQ professional examination. And French is a real gate, not a formality: you need an appropriate knowledge of French to hold a regular permit, and the OQLF French examination is the route for anyone who cannot show it another way.

This guide covers the Quebec-educated route in full, then the two other routes in their own sections: nurses already licensed in another Canadian province or territory, and nurses trained outside Canada. It carries no Ontario or CNO steps — Quebec's system is separate from every other province's.

The OIIQ is the gate

In Quebec, nursing is a regulated profession under the professional system, and the OIIQ is the order that delivers permits, sets the conditions for access to the profession, and monitors its members. Anyone who wants to work as a nurse in Quebec must first become a member of the OIIQ. The title is protected: you may not use it, or practise nursing, without an OIIQ permit and registration on the Roll.

Step 1: Finish a Quebec nursing program

Initial nursing training in Quebec is offered at college or at university:

• At a CEGEP (college): a three-year technical program following 11 years of primary and secondary study, leading to a Diploma of College Studies (DEC) in nursing.
• At a university: a three-year program following 13 years of primary, secondary and college study, leading to a bachelor's degree in nursing science (B. Sc. inf.).

Either route leads to the same permit. Nursing training, whether college or university, covers a minimum of 2,805 hours, including at least 2,145 hours in nursing — at least 1,035 of those in clinical placements. To enter a CEGEP nursing program you generally need a Diploma of Secondary Studies (DES) or equivalent, with the science prerequisites: Secondary IV Environmental Science and Technology and Secondary V Chemistry, completed within the last five years where possible.

While you are a student, you must hold an OIIQ nursing student permit — the registration certificate for nursing students (immatriculation des étudiants en soins infirmiers), which Dawson College lists at approximately $250. You also need a complete immunization record and a criminal background declaration form each semester before clinical placements, plus a police verification check during your second semester. Failing to meet these requirements prevents you from going to clinical placements, which makes you ineligible to pass your courses.

Step 2: Get the CEPI status

CEPI stands for candidate for the profession of nursing (candidate ou candidat à l'exercice de la profession d'infirmière). The status is granted after you graduate, but it does not activate automatically: the OIIQ must first receive official confirmation from your school, and your CEPI status begins only when you receive the OIIQ's confirmation email.

If you want to work as a CEPI while you prepare for the exam, you need an attestation of practice (AECEPI). You can request one if you hold a registration certificate, hold a diploma that opens the way to the permit, have received the OIIQ email confirming your CEPI status, and have an employer. The attestation is not issued automatically — you must request it through the form in your Mon compte space — and the processing time is at least ten business days if your file is complete. Once you receive the AECEPI by email, you can practise the professional activities it covers, and you must give the attestation to your employer. If you change employers, tell the OIIQ, naming the facility.

Your authorization to practise as a CEPI ends at the first of these events: you do not pass the professional examination within the time set by the regulation on permit issuance, you fail the professional examination three times, more than 30 days have passed since your OIIQ permit was issued, or more than four years have passed since the first examination session after you obtained your diploma or your equivalence.

Step 3: Pass the OIIQ professional examination

The OIIQ professional examination is compulsory for all candidates. It is a written examination of 45 to 50 clinical situations with 135 to 150 multiple-choice questions, and it assesses whether you have the knowledge, skills and judgment to solve clinical situations like those in everyday Quebec nursing practice. The OIIQ holds two examination sessions a year, in autumn and in winter, and you must attend when you are called — an unjustified absence counts as a failure. Once CEPI status is granted, you have three attempts within two years to pass the examination. The OIIQ publishes a preparation guide and video capsules to help you prepare.

For nurses trained outside Canada, the same examination applies, at $638.11 per attempt, held in Montreal and Quebec City, with results about eight weeks after the examination day. The OIIQ recommends working at least three months as a CEPI before sitting the examination.

Step 4: Receive your permit — regular or temporary

Once you pass the professional examination, the OIIQ issues your permit. There are two kinds:

• Regular permit: issued if you meet the requirements of the Charter of the French Language on knowledge of French.
• Temporary permit: issued if you do not yet meet the French-language requirement. It is valid for one year and can be renewed, under certain conditions, for a total of four years. Each year, at least three months before your temporary permit expires, you must apply for renewal — the OQLF gives the authorization to renew — and you must consolidate your French and pass the OQLF examination to obtain your permanent permit. The renewal fee is $178.21 per year.

If a declaration of a criminal or disciplinary conviction in Canada or abroad, or a penal offence related to usurping a reserved title or illegally practising a profession, has been made against you, the OIIQ must study your file before issuing your permit. If the offence is decided to relate to the practice of the profession, your application may be refused, or its analysis may be suspended while a court or disciplinary decision is pending.

Step 5: Register on the Roll

The permit, on its own, is not enough to let you practise nursing. You must register on the OIIQ Roll by completing an annual declaration online and paying the required fees. Your Roll registration is valid from April 1 to March 31 and must be renewed annually before the deadline. For nurses trained outside Canada, the first Roll registration costs $295.50 at the reduced regular-dues rate for 2025–2026, must be done within 30 days of receiving your professional examination results if you practise, and the annual dues are $550.82 for 2025–2026, payable each year before March 15. Check the OIIQ's current fee schedule before you budget, since these figures are for the 2025–2026 year.

The French-language requirement, in detail

The OQLF requires a professional to have an appropriate knowledge of French to practise the profession in that language. Your knowledge of French is considered sufficient if you meet any one of these conditions:

• You studied at least three years full time in French, at the secondary or postsecondary level.
• You passed the French mother-tongue examinations of the fourth or fifth year of secondary school.
• You obtained a Quebec secondary school certificate, starting with the 1985–86 school year.

If you meet one of these, attach the matching document to your application: a transcript in French showing three years of full-time study in French, a transcript from a Quebec school attesting that you passed the secondary year 4 or 5 French mother-tongue examination, or a Quebec secondary school diploma obtained from 1986 onward.

Otherwise, your knowledge of French is assessed through a French examination administered by the OQLF, which is for anyone who wants a practice permit from a professional order governed by Quebec's Professional Code. The OQLF examination itself is free of charge. All OIIQ communications and examinations are conducted in French, so the language requirement shapes the whole process, not just the permit.

Route 2: You are already a nurse in another Canadian province or territory

Nursing is exclusively a provincial jurisdiction in Canada, so even if you hold a permit in another province or territory, you must apply for an OIIQ permit to practise in Quebec. Under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, nurses who meet the requirements of the regulation on legal authorizations to practise nursing outside Quebec that open the way to an OIIQ permit are eligible. To meet them you must:

• Hold a legal authorization to practise in another Canadian province or territory, with no restriction or limitation.
• Have completed the OIIQ training on nursing documentation (Documentation infirmière : reflet de la pratique).
• Have completed the OIIQ training on the Code of Ethics (Code de déontologie : un guide éclairant pour l'infirmière).

The steps: build your permit file and submit the online permit application through the OIIQ's secure section, attaching the required documents as scanned PDFs of the originals — birth certificate, translations if needed by a translator recognized by the Quebec order of certified translators, proof of your current unrestricted authorization to practise (printed as a PDF from the other province's regulator website, with its official header and the date you consulted it), the two training attestations, and a document proving sufficient knowledge of French where applicable. Postal files are not accepted and are returned to the sender. A processing and permit issuance fee of $339.18 applies, and the processing time is about 20 business days, though it can vary with the number of applications received. Once your eligibility is established, the OIIQ issues a regular permit if you meet the French-language requirement, or a temporary permit if you do not. Then you register on the Roll, as above.

If you hold a nursing diploma from a Canadian university but no legal authorization to practise in any province or territory, you apply for diploma equivalence instead: the file is submitted online, the processing fee is $241.45, and the decision takes about 20 business days. Once equivalence is recognized, you get CEPI status, can request an AECEPI to work, and must pass the professional examination — three attempts within two years — before receiving your permit.

Route 3: You trained as a nurse outside Canada

If you hold a nursing or health diploma obtained in a country other than Canada or France and want to practise in Quebec, you must have your training recognized and obtain a permit. Start your OIIQ steps at the same time as your immigration steps with the Canadian and Quebec governments, since you also need authorization to work in Quebec, such as a work permit. The steps, as published by the OIIQ:

1. Do the online self-assessment. It takes under an hour, costs nothing, and tells you whether your experience and training match what is expected of a nurse in Quebec, or of a licensed practical nurse — a different, related profession in Quebec.
2. Apply for recognition of training equivalence. File online through the OIIQ website, in the secure Mon compte section. The file documents your schooling and professional history: identity documents, a comparative evaluation of studies done outside Quebec from the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration, diplomas, transcripts, detailed course and placement descriptions, and forms completed by your school, your home country's regulator, and your employers. Documents in a language other than French or English must be translated by a certified translator. The fee is $799.08, and the decision takes 8 to 12 weeks after a complete file is received. The Admission by Equivalence Committee can recognize your equivalence, recognize it with conditions, or refuse it — with conditions, you may need to complete a professional integration program and up to four courses in specific areas such as geriatrics, mental health, pediatrics or perinatal care.
3. Get a registration certificate. Before you start the professional integration program, you must apply for a registration certificate from the OIIQ — it is your authorization to carry out nursing activities in a clinical setting. The fee is $270.19, and the processing time is 10 business days after a complete application is received.
4. Complete the professional integration program. The committee prescribes this program for all nurses who obtained their diploma outside Quebec, without exception. It familiarizes you with the Quebec practice context — professional, legal, ethical, organizational and sociocultural — adapts the skills you already have, and requires you to demonstrate the clinical skills essential to safe and effective practice in a Quebec care setting. It usually takes place in a college (CEGEP), takes 9 to 10 months or more in an educational institution, or at least 75 days in a clinical setting, and its cost varies by institution. Once you pass it, your training equivalence is recognized.
5. Get CEPI status and the attestation to practise. Once the OIIQ confirms you passed the integration program, CEPI status is granted, and you can request an AECEPI to work under supervision while you prepare for the exam. There is no fee, and the processing time is 10 business days after a complete AECEPI application.
6. Pass the professional examination. Twice a year, in March and November, in Montreal and Quebec City. The fee is $638.11 per attempt, and results take about eight weeks. You have three attempts within two years.
7. Receive your permit. Issued at the same time as your examination result, at no fee — regular if you meet the French-language requirement, temporary if you do not.
8. Register on the Roll within 30 days of receiving your examination results if you practise and intend to work as a nurse. The first registration costs $295.50 at the reduced regular-dues rate for 2025–2026, and the annual dues are $550.82 for 2025–2026.

If you disagree with the committee's equivalence decision, contact the OIIQ at equivalence-br@oiiq.org, and you can then request a review following the instructions in the decision letter sent by email. If you are dissatisfied with how your equivalence or review was handled, you can appeal to the commissioner for admission to professions.

What the OIIQ pages do not state

The pages do not state a processing time for the Quebec-educated route's permit after the professional examination, so this guide gives none — the permit is issued with the examination result for the internationally educated route, and the same timing is not stated for Quebec graduates. They do not state the current fee for the Quebec-educated route's permit application or Roll registration, so no fee is given for that route; the fees in this guide are the ones the pages state for the other-province and internationally educated routes, and they are for the 2025–2026 year — check the OIIQ's current fee schedule before you budget. They also do not state a timeline for the CEGEP or university nursing programs beyond their three-year length, so no application-to-graduation timeline is given here. Confirm the current figures on the OIIQ site before relying on them.

Related guides

• How to Become a Registered Nurse in Ontario — the Ontario route through the CNO: an approved nursing program, the NCLEX-RN, and the jurisprudence exam.
• How to Become a Registered Nurse in Alberta — the Alberta route: the approved program, the NCLEX-RN, and registration with the provincial regulator.
• How to Become a Registered Nurse in Saskatchewan — the Saskatchewan route: the approved program, the NCLEX-RN, and registration with the College of Registered Nurses of Saskatchewan.
• How to Become a Nurse Practitioner in Ontario — the next step after RN registration: the NP master's program and the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Examination.
• How to Get Your Foreign Credentials Recognized in Ontario — the broader credential-recognition machinery for internationally trained professionals, including healthcare.

Sources

• Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec, Infirmier ou infirmière d'une autre province ou d'un territoire canadien — the other-province route, the two OIIQ trainings, the $339.18 fee, the French-language conditions, the regular and temporary permits, and the Roll.
• Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec, Infirmière diplômée hors Canada : obtenir votre droit d'exercice — the internationally educated route, the integration program, the CEPI status, the professional examination, and the Quebec DEC and bachelor's programs.
• Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec, Infirmière diplômée ou infirmier diplômé hors Canada — the equivalence fees and timelines, the examination fee and schedule, the temporary permit renewal, and the Roll fees for 2025–2026.
• Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec, Étape 3 : CEPI - AECEPI — the CEPI status, the AECEPI attestation, its conditions and processing time, and when CEPI authorization ends.
• Dawson College, Admission Requirements — Nursing — the CEGEP admission prerequisites, the OIIQ nursing student permit, the immunization and background-check requirements, and the French-language conditions.