Nanny Agency in Quebec: The 7 Questions to Ask Before You Sign

The contract is on the table. You were told three months, you heard the word guarantee, and the figure at the bottom of the page is a round number. Do you sign? Before you do, there are seven questions to put to a nanny agency in Quebec — and it is the awkward answers, not the smooth ones, that tell you the most.

This is not suspicion. It is a file that commits your family for months and another person for years. Worth knowing who you are handing it to.

What separates a real nanny agency in Quebec from the rest

Recruitment is the visible part. The part that sinks applications is legal: a poorly drafted job offer, an incomplete proof of local recruitment, a bedroom that does not meet the requirement. Any one of those can get a file refused after months of waiting.

The seven questions below all measure a single thing: does this agency handle the legal work itself, or does it outsource and hope for the best?

Question 1 · How long, and how many families?

A precise, verifiable answer, with no flattering rounding. An agency that has existed for eighteen months has not yet seen a refused labour market assessment, an arrival that goes badly, a family that changes its mind midway. Experience here is counted in completed files, not in years of existence.

Question 2 · How long, really?

For a live-in caregiver coming from abroad, the honest answer is 8 to 9 months. Labour Market Impact Assessment, work permit, medical exams, biometrics, settling in: each stage has its own delay and none of them can be bought faster.

If you are quoted three months, the conversation should end there. That timeline does not exist, and whoever promises it either does not know the program or has decided not to tell you.

Question 3 · What exactly does a nanny agency in Quebec charge for?

Ask for the breakdown line by line, and above all ask what is not included. Three items must be separated without ambiguity: the caregiver’s wage, the government fees set by the authorities, and the agency’s own fees.

A single flat package advertised for every situation should give you pause: files do not resemble one another, and a price that never varies is hiding either an average or a supplement still to come.

Question 4 · Who handles the work permit?

This is the question that separates most clearly. If the agency outsources to an external firm, you will find out on the follow-up: ask for the name of the person who will sign your file, and whether you can speak to them.

An agency that builds files in-house can answer in one sentence. An agency that outsources will start talking about “our partners”. You can check whether a lawyer is actually on the roll through the Barreau du Québec — it takes thirty seconds and nobody does it.

Question 5 · And if the application is refused?

A refusal is not repaired, it is restarted. You want to know who redoes the work, on what timeline, and at what cost to you. A vague answer here is an invoice later.

Be equally wary of the opposite: nobody serious can guarantee the outcome of a government application. A promise of results is not a sign of competence, it is a warning.

Question 6 · Am I eligible where I live?

In cities where the local unemployment rate exceeds a regulatory threshold, a restriction applies to the international live-in stream. Many families stop there, convinced the door is shut.

It is not necessarily. When someone in the household has a documented medical condition, a medical exception can lift that restriction. It is assessed case by case, on documentation, and never guaranteed over the phone. An agency that misses this nuance, in either direction, will cost you time. The program conditions are published by the Government of Canada.

Question 7 · What happens to the caregiver after her permit?

This one concerns your stability as much as hers. A permit obtained properly opens a path to permanent residence in two to four years. A caregiver building a life here does not leave after a year.

Ask what is planned for French-language training as well. Since November 2024, a French proficiency requirement applies to Quebec files. An agency with nothing to say on that has not kept up.

What a good nanny agency in Quebec answers without hesitating

Precise figures, uncomfortable timelines, limits it owns. It will sometimes tell you its solution is not the right one for you — and that is precisely what should reassure you.

Regency Nannies is led by a lawyer, a member of the Barreau du Québec, and backed by an in-house legal team. Not an outsourced firm you will never meet: the people who build your file are the people who defend it. Since 2004, more than 1,000 Quebec families have trusted us.

If the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is not the right route for you, a local nanny or a European au pair may suit your reality better. It is frequently the case.