Transition To Quebec’s New Policies

All you need to know about Quebec Immigration Reform

The Quebec provincial council approved an immigration bill that will replace a first-come, first-served standard for accepting migrants with one tied to an applicants’ skills.

Quebec’s new immigration strategy is similar to a proposed plan from US President Donald Trump that would shift his country’s visa system from family-based immigration towards bringing in more skilled and qualified workers.

The law will include attempts to closely match the skills offered by applicants for immigration with the needs of the labor market in Quebec, which Canada’s second most-populous province.

Going ahead with the new law, approximately 18,000 applications now on file will be shredded, the existing applicants will have to restart the immigration process.

The provincial government promised to accelerate processing of the new applications, saying qualified workers would have answers within six months rather than the current long duration of 36 months” Coalition Avenir Quebec, immigration minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced on Twitter.

“We are modifying the immigration system in the public interest because we have to ensure we have a system which meets the needs of the labor market,” Jolin-Barrette told the National Assembly.

The will is seen as positive for the future immigration in Quebec. The new proposal promises to improve percentage of the number of immigrants and refugees arriving each year in Quebec.

The assembly on Sunday and after debate passed a bill banning the wearing of religious symbols by public servants including police officers, judges, lawyers, prison guards and teachers. However, the new law will only apply to new recruits, with existing employees unaffected.

Quebec’s provincial government is to use its majority to force a vote on its immigration reform legislation. The provinces Premier Francois Legault had made it his government’s priority to pass the two bills before the summer. Bill 9 is also considered controversial because it would see the cancellation of thousands of existing skilled worker immigration applications in order to transition to the new Quebec Expression of Interest system, which will operate similarly to the federal Express Entry system.

It will also lay the groundwork for a Quebec values test for immigrants to pass before they can become permanent residents in the French-speaking province.

The provincial government tried to stop processing files when its tabled Bill 9 in February, effectively adopting the legislation before it had been voted into law.

However, a February 25 injunction forced MIDI to continue processing applications. The government announced plans for immigration levels to increase every year for the next three years.

Application Targets trend-

The Coalition Avenir Quebec, by 2022 plans to increase annual Quebec immigration to above 50,000. The proposal was announced by the Department of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion (MIDI) on Friday June 7, 2019.

Increases will be concentrated in the economic class, according to the plan, which Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette described as a ‘government proposal’ instead of an official immigration plan.

The target of between 49,500 and 52,500 new immigrants for 2022 is effectively the same as the previous government. In 2016 to 2018, 53,084, 52,388 and 51,118 immigrants were admitted. With the new legislative policies and reforms Quebec is ready to onboard aspirants in coming 3 years.