New resident of Québec and Family Allowance
Has your family or your child just arrived in Québec? You may be entitled to Family Allowance, a form of financial assistance for parents with dependent children under age 18.
Eligibility for Family Allowance payments
To be eligible for the Family Allowance, all of the following conditions must be met:
- You or your spouse are responsible for the care and education of a child under the age of 18.
- The child lives or lived with you at the time when he or she was temporarily institutionalized by an establishment in the health and social services sector.
- You or your spouse live in Québec (in accordance with the Québec Taxation Act).
- You or your spouse have one of the following statuses:
- Canadian citizen
- permanent resident
- temporary resident who has been living in Canada for at least 18 months
- protected person.
You will be required to provide
documents as proof:
- If your child was born outside Québec or was adopted,
a birth certificate will be required.
- If the child for whom you are completing the form was born outside Québec and one of his or her parents is a Canadian citizen or is a permanent resident who has returned to Québec, or if the child arrived alone in Québec without his or her parents,
proof of the child's presence in Québec will be required.
- If you arrived in Québec in the last 24 months,
two documents submitted as proof of residence will be required.
- If you or your spouse are not Canadian citizens,
proof of your immigrant status in Canada, or that of your spouse, will be required.
Information on documents provided as proof
When documents provided as proof are required, you can send clear and legible copies of the documents
online. If necessary, we may request the original documents or certified true copies.
When to file an application?
If your child is born in Québec, you do not need to file an application for Family Allowance. When the birth of your child is declared to the Directeur de l'état civil 
, the child is automatically signed up with Retraite Québec. You will receive your first Family Allowance payment within a maximum 40-day period after we have received your child's declaration of birth from the Directeur de l'état civil.
However, you must file an application for Family Allowance payments if your child was born outside Québec or:
- you are an immigrant or become a resident of Québec
- your child arrives in or returns to Québec
- you adopt a child.
Retroactive payment
You can receive Family Allowance retroactively if all the defined criteria are met. Therefore, you will receive amounts equal to the payments you would have received if you had applied for Family Allowance up to 11 months before the date on which we received your application.
Other useful information