How to Become a Social Worker in Quebec

Written November 13, 2026

The short answer

Quebec social workers hold a permit from the Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec (OTSTCFQ). The standard route is a Quebec degree in social work. Under the permit regulation, the board of directors issues a permit when you apply to the secretary of the Order with an official attestation that you hold a diploma recognized under the Professional Code, or a diploma recognized as equivalent by the board. A permit alone is not the finish line: the Order enters permit holders on its membership roll, and the title social worker belongs to members.

Quebec runs its professions under the Professional Code, and its structure differs from the colleges in other provinces. The Order groups two professions in one body — social workers and marriage and family therapists — and it issues two categories of permit. This guide covers only the social worker permit.

Step 1: Fit one of the Order's admission routes

The Order's becoming-a-member page sorts social worker applicants into these routes:

• Quebec degree in social work
• Quebec degree in social work earned more than five years ago
• Degree in social work from France (DEASS)
• Degree in social work from France (DEASS) earned more than five years ago
• Social worker who is a member elsewhere in Canada
• Social worker who is a member elsewhere in Canada, from more than five years ago
• Degree in a field related to social work, or admission by equivalence

The five-year split matters. Older credentials pull extra requirements into the file. On the equivalence side, the Order states that foreign-trained candidates who graduated more than five years ago are subject to its regulation on refresher training periods for members.

Step 2: The diploma at the centre of the file

Every route turns on the diploma. The regulation on permit terms and conditions puts it in one sentence: the board of directors issues permits to persons who send an application to the secretary, accompanied by an official attestation that the person holds a diploma recognized by the Office des professions du Québec under the first paragraph of section 12.0.1.1 of the Professional Code, or recognized as equivalent by the board of directors.

A second regulation fills in what the permit carries. Holders of a social worker permit may provide social services to persons, families, and communities to favour their social development and the improvement or restoration of their social functioning, in particular through psychosocial evaluations and social intervention. The title social worker is reserved to permit holders, along with the initials the regulation lists for them.

Step 3: Apply to the secretary

Send your application to the secretary of the Order with the attestation above. If your diploma is a Quebec diploma on the recognized list, the file is the attestation and the application. If it is not, your file goes through equivalence, in Step 4.

Members can hold more than one category of permit where they meet the requirements for each. A social worker permit does not let you present yourself as a marriage and family therapist; that takes the second permit.

Step 4: The equivalence route, for training done elsewhere

If your training was done outside the recognized-diploma list — a related degree, or social work training from outside Quebec — you apply for a permit by recognition of an equivalence. The Order's application form for a social worker permit by recognition of an equivalence asks for:

• Your university education in social work, and any degree in a field related to social work, with practical training and field placements set out
• Continuing education relevant to social work
• Professional experience in social work, and experience related to social work gained after your first degree or diploma
• A statement of your motivations for applying for admission

And you attach:

• Official transcripts, in original copies, for each university program in social work or a related discipline, showing the courses taken
• A copy of each relevant university degree, certified by the educational institution — plus the undergraduate degree that gave access to any graduate degree
• The official comparative evaluation of studies done outside Quebec, issued by the ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Inclusion, for people whose diploma comes from outside Canada or the United States
• A certified copy of your registration or licence, if you hold one
• Supporting documents on your knowledge of French, and the form for the Office québécois de la langue française, where it applies
• Detailed descriptions and outlines of each relevant course, an official attestation from your institution of your practical training with its total hours and supervision, an official attestation from each employer of relevant work experience with hours, an up-to-date curriculum vitae, and proof of identity

The analysis charges on that form are a file-opening fee of $183.96 and an evaluation fee of $574.88, in Canadian dollars with taxes included, payable to the Order by cheque or money order, or by Visa or Mastercard. Equivalence can end in a prescription for added training rather than a straight refusal or approval: the Order's rules allow training periods or training to be required so a candidate can be granted an equivalence, carried out under supervision.

Step 5: Permit and membership roll

The Order describes its own job at admission plainly: it assures that everyone who applies for admission has the education or degrees required for issuing a permit and registration on the membership roll. The permit and the roll entry are the two halves of the same decision. Once both are in place, you practise under the social worker title in Quebec and under the Order's supervision of the profession.

What the opened pages do not state

The Order pages and regulations opened for this guide state the admission routes, the attestation rule, the equivalence file contents, and the equivalence analysis charges of $183.96 and $574.88. They do not state a current annual membership dues figure for new social worker permit holders, a processing time for a standard Quebec-degree application, a salary range for Quebec social workers, or tuition for social work programs, so this guide gives none of those. The equivalence form opened for this guide is the Order's published application form for that route; confirm the analysis charges on the Order's site when you file, because forms are replaced over time.

Related guides:

• How to Become a Social Worker in Canada — the national picture, province by province.
• How to Become a Social Worker in Ontario — Ontario College registration, the closest neighbouring route.
• How to Become a Social Worker in British Columbia — the BC College route and its licensure exam.
• How to Start Getting Your Foreign Credentials Recognized in Canada — the first steps for internationally educated applicants.

Sources

• Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec, Becoming a Member — social work as a regulated profession under the Professional Code, the Order's public protection and admission role, and the list of routes to a social worker permit: Quebec degree, French DEASS degree, membership elsewhere in Canada, and related degree or equivalence, each split at five years.
• LégisQuébec, Regulation Respecting Terms and Conditions for Permits to Be Issued by the Ordre professionnel des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec, chapter C-26, r. 289 — the board of directors issuing permits on an application to the secretary with official attestation of a diploma recognized under the Professional Code or recognized as equivalent.
• Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec, Application Form for a Social Worker Permit by Recognition of an Equivalence — the equivalence file contents, the comparative evaluation for studies done outside Quebec, the French language form, the refresher training rule for foreign-trained candidates who graduated more than five years ago, and the $183.96 file-opening and $574.88 evaluation charges with taxes included.
• LégisQuébec, Regulation Respecting the Integration of Social Workers and Marital and Family Therapists, chapter C-26, r. 292 — the two permit categories the Order issues, the professional activities of a social worker permit holder, and the title social worker reserved to permit holders.