Despite their different histories as countries of immigration, Switzerland, France and Canada all have a sizeable immigrant population, some of which do experience obstacles in their educational and professional careers. On the one hand, France and Switzerland offer both academic and vocational routes to higher education, whereas academic routes prevail in Canada. In this paper the authors clarify not only if, but also how - through which institutional settings - higher education is accessed by students from vulnerable immigrant groups. The results show that across the three countries, 1st and 2nd generation Northern African youths in France, Turkish or former Yugoslavian youths in Switzerland and Latino and Caribbean youths in Canada are respectively underrepresented in higher education. These differences are greatly reduced and even disappear when the socioeconomic background and educational performance in secondary school is controlled for.