Canada's Quebec. Photo: VCG

A French woman seeking permanent residency in Quebec, Canada was turned down on grounds that her French was not good enough.

Emilie Dubois, 31, has lived in the mainly French-speaking province since 2012, completed her doctoral thesis in French at Laval University in Quebec City, started a small business in the province and even passed a language test.

But all that wasn't enough to convince Quebec officials to give her an immigration suitability certificate that is a prerequisite to gaining permanent residency. "It's absurd," she told AFP.

French is the official language of government, commerce and the courts in Quebec - a former French colony ceded to Britain in 1763.

But the province's French majority has often faced criticism for its arguably heavy-handed defense of the language of Moliere.

Determined to press on, Dubois said "my desire to stay in Quebec is stronger."