Last week, the government of Quebec unveiled a new plan for immigration in the province. This announcement is welcome news for many potential applicants who have been waiting for a chance to submit an immigration application for Quebec.
One more chance under the "first-come, first-served" system?
It was announced that between April 1, 2018 and August 15, 2018, Quebec's Ministère de l'immigration may still accept up to 5000 applications under the Regular Skilled Worker Program, to be processed on a "first-come, first-served" basis. However, no official date has been set for the opening of the Program. The government has likely delayed accepting more immigration applications because it already has a large inventory of applications waiting to be processed. It was announced that about 36,000 applications were awaiting processing in January 2017 and about 26,000 applications were awaiting processing in January 2018.
Also between April 1, 2018 and August 15, 2018, applications will continue to be accepted from candidates in the Quebec Experience Class and the quota-exempt Quebec Skilled Workers (workers who have been admitted to Quebec for at least one year, among other conditions).
A new system
After August 15, 2018, the Quebec government plans introduce a "declaration of interest" system in which candidates interested in immigrating to Quebec will submit a profile detailing their qualifications. Then, the candidates deemed to have the best chances of integrating successfully into the Quebec workforce will be given an Invitation to Apply for a Quebec Selection Certificate. No information has been published yet about how candidates will be ranked or chosen, nor is any information available about processing times. However, this new system is expected to reflect the Express Entry system used for immigration by Canada's federal government and hopefully it will result in shorter processing times for Quebec applicants.
Stay tuned for more developments!
Do you need assistance with immigrating to Quebec? Please contact me to discuss further.