The Quebec government introduced on Thursday, October 31, a moratorium until June 30, 2025 on two popular permanent immigration programs. One of them, the regular skilled worker program, allowed more than 25,000 people to settle in Quebec in 2023, out of a total of 53,000 immigrants admitted. The second – the shutter “graduates” of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) – is considered the fast track for foreign students to become permanent residents in the province.
Quebec justifies this freeze by the great success of the student component, which could triple its contingent in one year, up to nearly 15,000, according to government estimates. In total, without this strike, “we could have arrived close to 70,000 permanent immigrants [en 2025] », supported the Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, on Thursday. A threshold that, according to him, exceeds the reception capacity of the province.
Most of Quebec’s opposition parties have denounced the moratorium. “He is attacking international students, (…) who speak French, who are here, (…) who want to integrate », he particularly criticized the liberal deputy André A. Morin
One more brake
This freeze is one more brake on immigration from Quebec, a jurisdiction shared with the federal capital, Ottawa. Since September, the Quebec government has already partially suspended a temporary immigration route for foreign workers.
In recent weeks, Canada has been getting into shape. In late October, Justin Trudeau’s government, which had targeted 500,000 permanent residents by 2025, lowered its target to 395,000 and wants to reduce the share of temporary immigrants in the population. With these measures, both levels of government are trying, in particular, to alleviate the current tension in the real estate market.
Since the announcement of Quebec’s moratorium, immigration lawyer Nadia Barrou’s phone has not stopped ringing. “We felt a wave of panic! But many students still have options to stay here, such as applying for a postgraduate work permit. » Those who were considering using the other suspended program can request support from their employer to extend their work permit while they wait for the freeze to end, but not all jobs are eligible.
“The provincial elections are approaching”
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