For Montréal, helping employers and international talent navigate immigration has become part of the talent proposition itself.
A place can have the jobs, the research institutions and the quality of life to attract international talent. But between deciding to move and actually making the move lies a less glamorous question: how complicated will this be?
For Montréal International, that question has become central. The organisation has worked for decades to attract foreign direct investment and international organisations to Greater Montréal. As talent became an increasingly important part of economic development, it expanded into international talent attraction, helping regional employers recruit skilled workers from around the world.
But the needs of employers have changed. Recruitment is no longer the only service they are looking for. Stéphane Paquet, President and CEO of Montréal International, says employers increasingly need help guiding candidates through immigration processes, while candidates seeking permanent residency are also turning to the organisation. In response, Montréal International doubled the size of its immigration consulting team and expanded its services across the talent journey. Attraction, in other words, does not end when someone says yes.
The gap between interest and a successful move
International recruitment already involves uncertainty. Immigration rules can add another layer, particularly when policies and programmes are changing. For employers, uncertainty can delay hiring decisions; for candidates, it can turn an attractive opportunity into a complicated calculation.
Paquet identifies clarity as one of the most important needs Montréal International now sees from employers. “They need timely, reliable information to make informed decisions and move recruitment processes forward with confidence.”
Its specialists help employers and candidates understand available pathways, requirements and procedures. That may sound like an administrative function rather than a talent-attraction strategy, but the distinction is increasingly difficult to maintain. If an international professional cannot understand how they can work, obtain the relevant status, bring their family or eventually settle, then the attractiveness of the destination is affected before the person ever arrives. The immigration system becomes part of the place experience.
From promotion to one-stop support
Montréal International’s model is particularly focused on employers. Many of the companies it supports are small and medium-sized businesses in sectors such as aerospace, information technology and advanced manufacturing. They may have significant international talent needs but lack the internal resources or expertise to manage global recruitment themselves.
The response has been to bring several functions together. “Our model was designed to provide Greater Montréal employers with a true one-stop shop for international recruitment.”
Promotion, recruitment and immigration services are combined, while talent is connected to integration services provided by partners. That changes what an economic development organisation can offer an employer. Instead of simply explaining why Montréal is attractive, it can help answer a more immediate set of questions: who can we recruit, how do we reach them, what immigration pathway applies, what will the process involve, and what support is available once they arrive? For smaller employers in particular, reducing that complexity can make international recruitment more feasible.
Immigration is now part of economic development
Paquet explicitly connects the work to the competitiveness of the regional economy. Access to talent is increasingly important to attracting and sustaining investment in strategic sectors, so helping international professionals navigate immigration and integration is not simply an administrative service. It becomes part of the region’s economic-development infrastructure.
The same applies from the candidate’s perspective. The experience after choosing a destination can influence whether someone ultimately stays. When immigration and integration processes are smoother, Paquet argues, international talent is more likely to stay in the region and build a future there.
This puts practical support much closer to the centre of the place proposition. A city can promote an attractive lifestyle and highlight its companies and career opportunities, but if the path between those promises and an actual move remains opaque, the proposition is incomplete.
Clarity as competitive infrastructure
Immigration policies are changing in many countries, including Canada. That makes certainty harder to promise, and it makes clarity more valuable.
Paquet expects the places that succeed in the coming years to combine attractiveness with practical support, particularly as immigration policies evolve. That does not mean a place can control the immigration system. It can, however, make the system easier to understand and help employers and prospective talent navigate it.
The competitive advantage is not necessarily having the simplest immigration rules. It may be making a complex system more legible to the people who have to navigate it. For Montréal, that means attraction, recruitment and immigration support increasingly sit within the same proposition, because a place’s talent proposition is only as credible as the path it offers from interest to arrival.
This article is part of Talent Attraction: Practitioner Perspectives, a series of six perspectives from people shaping talent strategy in cities and regions. For the wider picture, drawn from 43 places, see The State of Talent Attraction 2026: From Campaigns to Infrastructure.
The Montréal case is also featured in the Talent Attraction Leaders Europe & North America special edition.
