Once you receive your letter of admission from the cegep, you must apply to the Ministère de l'Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (MICC) for a Québec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) for studies.

The foreign students section of the Immigration Québec website gives you all the information you need to apply for a Québec Acceptance Certificate for studies, including the form, supporting documents, fees, etc.

If your file is complete and you meet all the requirements, a CAQ for studies is issued in your name.

Once you obtain your CAQ, you must apply for a study permit at the Visa Office of the Canadian Embassy in your country. A temporary resident visa may also be required. The Government of Canada charges a fee for each of these documents.

For more information, visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website, section STUDY: www.cic.gc.ca

Under the regulations of the Ministère des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration du Québec and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, all students from abroad are required to have a health and hospitalization insurance contract, valid in Canada, that covers them and their accompanying dependants. Otherwise they must be covered by a reciprocity agreement on health care and social security.

Students from France, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal and Sweden will have health care free of charge from the Régie de l’Assurance-maladie du Québec (except for dental care, eye examinations, eyeglasses and medication), as long as they are already covered by their country’s social security.

To obtain a Québec health insurance card, students must bring with them the original of the above-mentioned document when they arrive at the cegep. Their cegep will tell them how to obtain Québec health insurance.

France : Form SE-401-Q-102 for college or university students and form SE-401-Q-106 for students taking part in an exchange program are available from the caisse primaire d'assurance maladie in the place where you live;

Denmark : Form Que-Dan4, issued by Copenhagen health services;

Finland : Form SF-Q4 issued by the Institution for Social Coverage;

Luxembourg : Form Lux-Que4, issued by the Caisse de maladie luxembourgeoise;

Portugal : Bureau of Social Security in Portugal for social security abroad;

Norway : Certificate issued by the National Bureau of Social Security for social security abroad;

Sweden : Social Security Certificate in Sweden, issued by the National Social Insurance Board.

If you do not come from a country with a reciprocity agreement and you are registered in a cegep that subscribes to the group health and hospitalization insurance plan for foreign students at cegeps and private colleges, you must subscribe to this plan. The yearly premium (August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010) is $936.

Students attending a cegep must be responsible for their tuition fees, depending on their status in Québec. Students who are Québec residents must pay their registration fee, which varies from one cegep to another but is generally in the order of $200 Canadian.

There are two sessions a year.

For students from other countries (except for France) tuition fees are as follows:

The cegep will send documents on the choice of courses to students who have been admitted. The documents must be returned as soon as possible to the cegep along with the registration fee, which is usually in the order of $200. When you arrive in Québec, the cegep will ask you for the tuition fees corresponding to the program you chose.

You should ask the cegep for your schedule, usually a week before classes start. The cegep will send you a letter in this respect at the beginning of August. You must without fail ask for your schedule in good time.

Start of classes

Classes generally start as follows:

• Fall session: around August 20 and end around December 20
• Winter session: around January 17 and end around May 25
  Classes are usually scheduled for every day on weekdays and start at 8:00 a.m. at the earliest and end at 6:00 p.m. at the latest.

It is the Regional Admissions Service’s task to establish equivalences for diplomas from a given country and then notify the cegep, which makes the final decision as to whether the student will be admitted. It is also the cegeps’ decision to grant course exemptions based on students’ academic past in their country of origin.