Changes in Quebec's immigration policy had been brewing for a long time
As reported by "Russian Toronto", the new Quebec immigration law was adopted in mid-June 2019 by the provincial parliament. This law outlines the basic principles for selecting immigrants and identifies priority areas. While details about immigration programs are not yet included and will be announced later, it is already clear what the Quebec authorities plan to focus on first.
Background to the adoption of the new immigration law
Historically, the province of Quebec has long pursued an independent immigration policy, having virtually complete autonomy in matters of immigrant selection. Moreover, for a long time Quebec was the only Canadian province with its own immigration system; all other provinces did not have this right.
The situation began to change about 15 years ago, when other provinces also gained the ability to select immigrants they needed—though not to the same extent or with the same degree of autonomy as Quebec, but the process was underway. As a result, when preparing the new immigration strategy, it was decided to begin transferring the functions of immigrant selection to the provinces, leaving only the functions of verifying applicants and issuing immigration visas to federal authorities.
Although the new immigration system with its new approaches began to be actively implemented starting in 2014, transitioning provinces to the new schemes took time, and overall the process was only completed by the middle of last year. The only province that stubbornly continued to work with old programs and under old rules was Quebec.
Given that under the old rules, categories of highly qualified specialists who are now barred under the new rules could immigrate to Canada, interest in these programs was high. However, this resulted in such a backlog of applications that processing them took years, and overall the flow of immigration to Quebec ceased to meet the province's needs.
Most importantly, the province's immigration policy differed so greatly from federal policy and the rules under which other provinces operate that it caused constant friction. All of this combined led to the province of Quebec finally abandoning its previous approaches in 2019 and bringing its immigration policy in line with the pan-Canadian one.
We have been writing about the inevitability of such developments for a long time, so the adoption of the new immigration law in Quebec is an expected step; there are no surprises here. What is even more surprising is why this wasn't done earlier.
As mentioned above, there are currently no details on the new programs; they are expected to be announced in the coming months. For now, only the main priorities of Quebec's new immigration policy have been outlined, which we will discuss.
Linking immigration to the needs of the provincial labor market
One of the priorities of Quebec's new immigration policy is the task of linking the admission of immigrants to the needs of local employers. That is, the province plans to admit only those immigrants and in such numbers as are required to cover labor shortages.
Although there are no explanations in the new law on this matter, it is highly likely that this refers to a transition to the Expression of Interest system, which is currently used by immigration programs for skilled workers in other provinces. The essence of this system is that an immigration application is submitted to the province's common database. There, local employers select the specialists they need. The province gives a nomination to the selected specialists, which means a recommendation for obtaining permanent resident status. All other applications that local employers did not pay attention to are canceled after a certain period.
Thus, the need for labor in the province is satisfied, the problem of queues is eliminated, and the number of immigrants admitted is regulated—the province admits only those it can employ.
Another priority of Quebec's new immigration policy is to redirect the flow of immigrants to those areas of the province where there is a high need for them. This approach is fully in line with current trends in Canada's national immigration policy.
One of the main criticisms of Canada's immigration system is that it does not encourage the settlement of immigrants in areas with poor demographics but high labor needs. Immigrants do not voluntarily move to such areas, and there was no mechanism to force them to relocate. The solution was found in developing programs that tie the granting of permanent resident status to settlement and residence in remote areas of Canada.
In particular, regions for settlement under the new federal Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program, which is entirely focused on attracting specialists to remote and northern areas of Canada and is expected to launch soon, were recently identified. In April 2019, the launch of a similar program for the province of Ontario was announced. Also worth mentioning is the well-performing pilot program for the Atlantic provinces and the program to attract immigrants to the city of Morden in Manitoba. Apparently, the new Quebec initiative will operate on the same principles as the programs listed above.
New System for Receiving and Selecting Immigration Applications
Perhaps the most important change in the immigration policy of the province of Quebec is the abolition of the first-come, first-served system. Until recently, all applications submitted to the province's immigration authorities were placed in a queue and had to be reviewed if they met the requirements of the immigration program under which they were submitted. An application could remain in the queue for several years, and when its turn came, a decision was made.
Now this approach is changing – no queues, no obligations to applicants. You submit your application to a common database, and if you are selected, you get the opportunity to obtain permanent resident status in Canada. Everyone else is refused and asked to reapply – and so on in a cycle until you get lucky or get tired of applying.
In general, the abandonment of the principle of processing applications in order of receipt and the shift to selecting those who are needed at the moment, without any obligations to applicants, became the cornerstone of Canada's new immigration strategy, which was adopted in 2014. The federal Express Entry pre-selection system and the provincial Expressions of Interest systems are built on these principles. Apparently, Quebec is also transitioning to this system.
Thanks to this approach, short processing times can be maintained. When there are no queues and you select only those who are actually needed, it is quite easy to ensure the required efficiency. At least, the province of Quebec has set itself the goal of reducing immigration application processing times from 3 years to 6 months.
The essence of these innovations is the fast-track processing of applications from the most in-demand specialists. Again, nothing new, since both at the federal and provincial levels there are already programs that give priority to specialists in certain occupations for which there is high demand. As a rule, these are specialists in the field of information and communication technologies.
Abandonment of Obligations for Previously Submitted Applications
In connection with the adoption of the new immigration law, Quebec's actions are quite interesting. The fact is that the Quebec immigration authorities currently have more than 16 thousand applications from skilled workers under review. It has been decided to close all these applications and start accepting new applications from scratch.
All those whose applications have been canceled are given the right to reapply. However, it must be understood that in practice, few of these applicants will have a chance of success if Quebec's programs operate on the same principles as those of other provinces.
This is certainly a radical step, but one already tested at the federal level – the Canadian government did exactly the same thing in 2014 with applications that were waiting in line.
How Radical the Changes Could Be
Overall, the current government of the province of Quebec is showing a decisive attitude, and this applies not only to immigration. Simultaneously with the adoption of the new immigration law, a law was passed that prohibits public sector employees from wearing religious symbols. This primarily refers to turbans, niqabs, burqas, and so on. The new law also requires that a person show their face to receive government services.
This law on religious symbols is heavily criticized in Canada, as it is primarily directed against Muslims, but Quebec is standing firm. Apparently, Quebec will pursue the same independent and tough policy in terms of immigration.
Speaking about Quebec, one must take into account one important feature of this province: being the only French-speaking province in Canada, Quebec consistently and resolutely pursues a policy of preserving its national identity. In this, Quebec differs radically from the rest of Canada, where the principle of multiculturalism is cultivated. Therefore, when planning to immigrate to Quebec, you must be prepared for the fact that at a minimum, you will be required to have a high level of French language proficiency and a good understanding of the local culture.
Programs for Investors and Entrepreneurs
It is still completely unclear what will happen to the immigration programs for entrepreneurs and investors, but it can be expected that they will also be brought into line with the general principles. Quebec's business programs remain the only ones that copy federal programs that were closed 5 years ago. Therefore, it is even strange that such a relic still exists.
Most likely, these programs will be closed, if they haven't been already. Moreover, it is quite possible that the applications waiting in line will be treated the same way as the applications for skilled workers – that is, they will simply be canceled.
Lessons to Be Learned from the Adoption of the New Law
The change in Quebec's immigration policy with the simultaneous closure of all applications waiting in line allows us to draw the following lessons.
The first lesson: nothing is stable in the immigration field. What works today may not work tomorrow. And, apparently, it will not work, as the situation in this area is changing very quickly. Therefore, you should not rely on the experience of those who immigrated to Canada even 3-4 years ago. There were different conditions and different priorities then, which have already changed. Now someone else's experience does not help; it only hinders. For successful immigration, you need to focus not on how it worked a few years ago, but on how it will work in two or three years. The most important thing is that in immigration there are no and cannot be established rules.
Second lesson: if something looks too attractive, it should be alarming. As soon as more favorable conditions are created somewhere in the immigration sphere, a flow of immigrants rushes there. Very quickly, the number of applications exceeds quotas, problems begin, and immigration authorities start taking radical measures. What this leads to can be seen from what has now happened in Quebec. People submitted applications under Quebec programs 3-5 years ago because the conditions were very lenient, but in the end they got nothing – their applications were closed.
The change in immigration approaches in the province of Quebec is significant, because for a long time the province pursued an independent policy and gave an opportunity to immigrate to Canada to those who could not count on success under federal programs or programs of other provinces. Now this time, apparently, is coming to an end. The transition of all provinces to new operating principles has essentially been completed, and the unification of the Canadian immigration system can be considered a fait accompli. Overall, the rules for immigration have become the same everywhere, regardless of the province.