Program of the quebec experience : the reform comes into force

from July 22, the conditions of access to this system of immigration for temporary foreign workers and international students are hardened.

The government of Quebec has ruled : after several attempts to recast, the minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration presented at the beginning of July, the final version of its reform Program of the quebec experience (PEQ), which comes into force this July 22. And even if this text is less prescriptive in relation to the measures announced at the end of may, it hardens, all the same, the conditions of access to this system, which until now enabled for international students and temporary foreign workers to more rapidly get their Certificate of selection of Quebec (CSQ) in order to obtain permanent residence.

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Now, to qualify for the PEQ, the holders of a diploma in québec university (bachelor's, master's, doctoral) or a diploma of college studies in technical, in fact, must have acquired at least 12 months experience working full-time in Québec at a job level-0 A or B of the national occupational Classification (internships may be taken into account in the calculation, up to a maximum of three months). For holders of a diploma of vocational studies, 18 months of experience working full-time are required, in a job of level 0, A or B (experience in C-level is not accepted if it has been gained in a profession related with the degree obtained).

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Of the "transitional measures" for workers and students

The temporary foreign workers can apply for the PEQ if they have worked full-time for at least 24 of the last 36 months preceding their application (in the old formula of the PEQ, 12 months of work were needed). This job must be level 0, A or B (those classified in categories C and D are no longer eligible for the PEQ). It should be noted that students as workers must be in position at the time of submitting their application. Moreover, the processing time is lengthened, since they spend six months (twenty days ago).

from July 22, 2021, an additional clause will be added : the spouse or the spouse of the applicant will be required to demonstrate a knowledge of oral French level 4 on the "québec-wide scale of levels of French language skills of immigrant adults' (it is equivalent to the ability to exchange with his entourage for the current needs of daily life).

"transitional measures", however, have been integrated in this latest version : thus, temporary foreign workers holding a work permit and that are present in Québec before the coming into force of the regulation may submit a request according to the conditions of the PEQ initial (including those employed in jobs of level C and D). In addition, foreign students who have already graduated or who will get it by 31 December 2020 will also benefit of the former criteria of the device.

"A form of breach of moral contract"

If it is, for the quebec government, to "modernize (its) immigration system" and to "foster the labour market integration" of temporary migrants, this reform is far from unanimous, even in its revised version. "The managements of academic institutions are concerned about the impacts that this reform of the PEQ on the power of the attraction and recruitment of talent in Quebec, both for international students and for the expertise essential to its academic network", responded Pierre Cossette, chairman of the Board of directors of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), an organization that brings together quebec universities. "We find that it is regrettable for the reputation of Quebec and its universities to change the rules of the game along the way and require a one-year experience of work before allowing them to apply for the PEQ, so that the processing time of the requests pass from one to six months. It is a form of breach of moral contract", added the director general of Polytechnique Montréal, Philippe A. Tanguy.

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The discontent is also expressed in the street : on the 18th of July, for the eighth consecutive week, several student groups, unions and community have organized a day of mobilization in Montreal and Sherbrooke, to protest against this "PEQ 3.0". "This reform is unfortunate both for those people who thought to build a future here, and for the province, which is deprived of the best program of integration and attraction that Quebec has seen," said, in a press release, the French Thibault Camara, initiator of the Movement "in Quebec, it is us". "While the crisis of the COVID-19 has shown how dependent we are upon migrants, having worked in various sectors of the so-called 'vitalls', those with little or no qualification-es will be excluded of the access to permanent residence through the PEQ, added Cheolki Yoon, Centre workers and immigrants. This discriminatory decision will certainly be contrary to the interests of both migrant populations than the whole of quebec society."