Help newcomers to Canada find housing, schools, health cards and work in their first months here.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $54,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $40,000 at the lower end to about $75,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 4 years after high school, on the usual route.
$7,000 to $48,400 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$54,000
Lower end
$40,000
Upper end
$75,000
Job Bank groups settlement workers with other community service workers. The national median is $26 an hour, about $54,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($19) and upper end ($36.06) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group.
$35 an hour
Job Bank's median in Nunavut, about $73,000 a year
Among the provinces, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island are highest at $27, with Quebec at $26.59 and Ontario at $26.50. Manitoba is lowest at $21.
1 or 2 year contracts
The usual first job
Funding comes in cycles from IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), or in Quebec from the MIFI (Quebec immigration ministry), so agencies hire for the length of their funding. A language your clients speak can matter as much as a credential.
Roughly, all in
$7,000 to $48,400
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year college diploma plus the police record check with vulnerable sector screening that every agency requires. The high end is a four year degree in social work or a related field plus language testing. Many settlement workers arrived as newcomers themselves and already hold a degree from another country, which agencies generally accept for this work even when a regulated profession will not. A second language is worth more here than an extra credential.
About $7,000 to $48,400 in all. Many settlement workers were newcomers themselves and came in with a degree from another country. That degree usually counts for this job even when it does not count for a regulated one.
Health and dental
Standard on full-time contracts, thin or missing on part-time ones.
Pension
Only in school board, hospital and municipal roles. Most agencies offer a small matched savings plan instead.
Paid professional development
Agencies fund training on trauma, immigration rules and interpretation.
Flexible hours
Evening and weekend work is common, and usually traded back as time off.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no single licence. Agencies hire on language, lived experience and a relevant credential.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 English or French. Keep any other language you speak at home, it is a professional asset here.
College or university
2 to 4 years
A 2-year Social Service Worker diploma, a Community Worker diploma, or a degree in social work, sociology, international development or education.
Volunteer or placement in the sector
During school
Tutoring, conversation circles, refugee sponsorship groups, airport greeting teams. This is how almost everyone gets in.
First contract
Weeks to months
Often part time, at an agency funded by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) or a provincial program. In Quebec the MIFI (Quebec immigration ministry) funds the agencies instead of IRCC.
Specialize
2 to 5 years in
School-based settlement work, employment counselling, refugee resettlement or program management.
Languages
French and any heritage language you already speak. Keep them, do not drop them.
English
You will explain complicated government forms in plain words all day.
Geography and history
Knowing where clients come from and why is part of the job.
Computer skills
Every service is logged in a government reporting database.
Anyone can be hired as a settlement worker. What you cannot do is give immigration advice for a fee unless you are a lawyer or a licensed immigration consultant. Settlement workers point people to information, fill out settlement forms and refer clients on. Telling a client which immigration stream to apply under, for money, is a federal offence. Every agency trains new staff on exactly where that line sits.
Quebec runs its own settlement system: the MIFI (Quebec ministry of immigration, francization and integration) funds the agencies, not IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), and services aim at life in French.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
French matters more here than anywhere else in Canada. Keep any other language you speak at home, it is a professional asset.
Social work DEC (Diploma of College Studies) or a degree
3 years or more
Techniques de travail social (388.A1), 3 years at many CEGEPs (public colleges), or Social Service at Dawson College in English. Or a university degree in social work or social sciences.
Volunteer in the sector
During school
Conversation groups, homework help, refugee welcome. This is how almost everyone gets in.
First job at a community organization
Weeks to months
Usually a non-profit funded by the MIFI (Quebec immigration ministry) through PASI (its integration support program), which pays for settlement help, refugee reception and support for asylum seekers.
Or work for the ministry
With experience
The MIFI (Quebec immigration ministry) has its own integration assistance agents in every region. They build a personal action plan with each newcomer.
Accompagnement Québec
The personal integration service, at no cost, run by the MIFI (Quebec immigration ministry). A first appointment usually comes within about 5 business days.
PASI (Programme d'accompagnement et de soutien à l'intégration)
The integration support program that funds non-profits, on agreements for 2026 to 2029.
Francisation Québec
French courses at no cost for anyone 16 or older living in Quebec. Full time means 25 to 30 hours a week, in sessions of about 10 weeks.
Money for students
Eligible full-time French students can get $230 a week, or $25 a week for transport if they do not get the $230. Part-time students no longer get paid, though childcare help remains.
Who pays
Ottawa sends Quebec an annual grant to run these services.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Community interpreter training
A short college certificate. Lets you interpret at medical and legal appointments, often for extra pay.
Career development certificate
Moves you into employment counselling. Job Bank's median for career counsellors is $29.95 an hour, against $26 for this group.
Teaching English as a second language
Lets you cross over into the federally funded language classes newcomers take.
Trauma-informed practice
Essential for refugee resettlement teams.
Driver's licence
Home visits, airport pickups and rural outreach all need one.
Your own newcomer experience
Agencies deliberately hire people who have been through the system.
Knowing the local map
Which clinic takes patients without a health card, which landlord is fair, which school has a welcome class.
Patience with government websites
A large part of the job is navigating forms that were not written for beginners.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Morning drop-in: a family that landed three days ago needs a health card, a bank account and a school for two kids. You make calls, book appointments and print maps. Midday you run a group session on renting in Canada. Afternoon is home visits or a school-based shift where you sit with parents who cannot read the report card. Between all of it you log every contact in a federal reporting system, because the funding depends on the count.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Since April 1, 2026, economic class immigrants can use IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) funded settlement services for up to 6 years after becoming permanent residents, or until they become citizens. Those who became residents on or before April 1, 2020 lost access that day.
Job Bank counts about 155,600 people in the social and community service worker group that includes settlement workers, and expects a strong risk of labour shortage nationally from 2024 to 2033.
IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) funds free pre-arrival services, in person and online, so newcomers can prepare for life in Canada before they arrive.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Social services first, then the rest of the field. See every career in community and public service.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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