History
The ministry was founded on 5 November 1968, a decision made by then Premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand. The reasons for the creation of the ministry were: to prevent2019 Reform
Values test and conditional residence
With the passage of Bill 9 on 16 June 2019, Quebec plans to exercise its power to persuade the Federal government to change the permanent residency in Quebec to a conditional residence permit. Quebec then plans to test the landed conditional residents on a French language test and Quebec values test.The Ministère wishes to pursue its efforts to fully exercise its powers of selection, particularly with the reintroduction of the enabling power that allows the Québec government to determine by regulation the conditions for permanent residence that the Minister can impose on the candidates selected.However, it is still unclear what Quebec plans to do with those conditional residents who fails Quebec's tests and whether they will be deported from Canada. The jurisdiction for deportation falls under Federal government. It stands to be seen whether the Federal government will accept this proposal by the Quebec government as this method of testing immigrants is considered to be demeaning and will compartmentalize future citizens of Canada. This move by the Quebec government is purported to cherry pick French speaking European immigrants to Quebec.
" Immigrants must commit to successfully carrying out the necessary steps for settling and integrating in Québec, including learning French as well as democratic values and Québec’s values, as set out in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms."
Cancellation of 18,000 Mon Projet CSQ Applications
With the passing of Bill 9 as law on 16 June 2019, all the pending applications in Mon Projet (approx. 18,000) were cancelled and the application fees refunded. The applicants include those who are already working in high skilled jobs in Quebec and those who are outside of Canada. The application fee will be refunded by MIDI at a later date. The applicants who still want to immigrate to Quebec are asked to apply again through the new Arrima system. The Arrima system has 95,000 applications till date, but the applicants will be selected based on selection criteria which is not publicized by MIDI. Since there is a lot of uncertainties about the selection criteria and lack of transparency, the skilled workers who are already living and working in Quebec are quitting their jobs and moving to other provinces where they can apply Express Entry and get Canadian permanent residency within 6 months as opposed to the uncertainties and 4 years of delays in Quebec. This will see a lot of high skilled temporary foreign workers and university graduates moving out of the province.Proposed reform
During theOrganization
The structure of the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration is organized as follows: * Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie ** Minister's office * Deputy Minister — High direction ** General Secretariat ** Legal Affairs ** Communications ** Audit committee ** Internal Audit * Assistant Deputy Minister — Planning, performance and external relations ** Administrative review ** Research, planning and business intelligence ** Ministerial coordination and external relations ** Program evaluation, quality assurance and risk management * Assistant Deputy Minister — Development, Innovation and Organizational Support ** Innovation and Vision 3.0 ** Digital transformation and information resources ** Human resources ** Administration * Assistant Deputy Minister — Immigration and Prospecting ** Immigration operations ** Immigration and prospecting policies and programs ** Prospecting and recruitment operations abroad * Assistant Deputy Minister — Francization and Integration ** Francization services ** Francization and integration policies and programs ** Regional OperationsLaws and regulations
The Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration is responsible with administering the following laws and regulations in relation to Quebec immigration: * ''Act respecting the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Diversité et de l'Inclusion'' (chapter M-16.1) ** Terms and conditions of the signing of certain deeds, documents and writings of the Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (r. 2) * ''Québec Immigration Act'' (chapter I-0.2.1) ** Regulation respecting immigration consultants (r. 1) ** Québec Immigration Regulation (r. 3)Application process
Mon projet Québec
Putting an end to the old fully paper based immigration application process, the Ministry introduced an online web application system called Mon projet Québec. The system allowed applicants to register and provide details such as education, work experience and language proficiency (both English and French) by which the immigration officer's can calculate the points to select candidates based on the selection grid. The system has since been decommissioned. All the applications in Mon Projet that were pending to be approved would cancelled and the application fees refunded. This action of the ministry has been widely criticized, and an injunction has been filed and approved by the Quebec Superior Court.Arrima Portal
Replacing the Mon Projet web application, a new online system based on the expression of interest rather than first-come, first-served was introduced, called Arrima. The CAQ government wanted to reform the immigration system of Quebec with a possibility of selecting immigrants based on values test and other factors like knowledge of French. Headed by Simon Jolin-Barrette, the immigration bill (Bill 9) was passed into law as of 16 June 2019, titled ''An Act to increase Québec’s socio-economic prosperity and adequately meet labour market needs through successful immigrant integration''. After the passing of Bill 9, foreign skilled workers who were already present in Quebec with a validated job offer was invited to apply for a CSQ through the Arrima Portal. The immigration minister claimed that the new applications will be processed within 6 months.Quebec Selection Certificate
The Quebec Selection Certificate, also known as CSQ, is the certificate of selection provided to the applicants who want to immigrate to the Quebec Province of Canada. The CSQ certificate is then issued on the basis of the applicant's qualifications, work experience, language ability (Number of certificates issued
As of January 14, 2019, the below tables show the number oQuebec Skilled Worker Programme
PEQ category
The ''Programme de l’expérience québécoise'' (PEQ; 'Québec experience programProcessing times
The current processing time for applications at Sydney CIO is 21 months for the Quebec Skilled Worker program. This is in addition to the processing time for a Quebec Selection Certificate from the Quebec provincial government. There are typically two streams of Quebec Skilled Workers: ''Programme de l’expérience québécoise'' (PEQ; 'Québec Experience Program') and ''Programme régulier des travailleurs qualifiés'' (PRTQ; 'Regular Skilled Worker'). Waiting time to obtain a Canadian permanent residency if you are a temporary foreign worker in Quebec or if you are planning to immigrate to Canada by following Quebec immigration system (PRTQ category) is currently averaging 4.6 years. For PEQ category, the average delays are 1 month for a CSQ and 21 months at the Federal level, averaging 2 years. If you are immigrating to Canada elsewhere using Express Entry, the waiting time is 6 months only.High immigration delays
Immigration to Quebec is a two-stage process which has uncertainties and long waiting times at both stages. The time delay to obtain a CSQ for regular skilled worker was around 2 years. Once a candidate obtain a CSQ, the federal stage process will take 2 years or more as the Quebec government has reduced the immigration levels by 20% in 2019. So, a total waiting time of 4 years is to be expected if you are immigrating to Quebec as a regular skilled worker. This is in comparison to Express Entry system which is followed by the rest of Canada where the applicant need to wait only 4–6 months to get a permanent residency in Canada. Because of these delays and uncertainty for their future in Quebec, skilled foreign temporary workers who are already in Quebec are quitting their jobs and leaving the province to elsewhere in Canada and skilled immigrants immigrate to other provinces in Canada rather than choosing Quebec as their destination of choice.See also
* Immigration to Canada * Canada-Quebec AccordReferences
External links
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