{"id":95014,"date":"2022-02-11T13:48:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T18:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/ottawa-quebec-agree-on-need-to-speed-up-processing-of-canada-immigration-applications"},"modified":"2022-02-11T13:48:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T18:48:06","slug":"ottawa-quebec-agree-on-need-to-speed-up-processing-of-canada-immigration-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/ottawa-quebec-agree-on-need-to-speed-up-processing-of-canada-immigration-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa, Quebec Agree On Need To Speed Up Processing Of Canada Immigration Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quebec Immigration Minister Jean Boulet says Ottawa needs to improve its processing times for applications for economic immigration<\/span><\/a> and study permits<\/span><\/a> for international students \u2013 and Canada\u2019s immigration minister agrees.<\/p>\n

The francophone province\u2019s on-going beef about the long processing times for applications for permanent residency goes back to early last year.<\/p>\n

Previous Quebec Immigration Minister Nadine Girault lambasted Ottawa in May last year, calling the delays in processing times \u201cdeplorable\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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The processing time for applications for permanent residency in Quebec were reported at that time as being more than two years long, 27 months, compared six months in the rest of the country. The situation was also getting worse, not better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the processing time for applications to Quebec was 19 months.<\/p>\n

Ottawa and Quebec Working Together To Speed Processing<\/h3>\n

Last month, Canada\u2019s new immigration minister, Sean Fraser, took action on the file and met with Boulet. Although no details of the outcome of that meeting have been released, the Quebec immigration minister described it as a \u201cgood meeting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reminded him that Ottawa must speed up the process of admitting economic immigrants selected by Quebec and the issuance of study permits for francophone international students,\u201d tweeted Boulet in French. \u201cMy counterpart has assured me of the cooperation of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s immigration minister also expressed hope following the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada and Quebec are continuing to work together to move forward on our joint priorities,\u201d tweeted Fraser. \u201cCanada is committed to protecting the French language by welcoming more francophone immigrants to Quebec and the rest of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most recent IRCC data shows 44,495 new permanent residents settled in Quebec in the first 11 months of last year alone, almost 76.4 per cent more than in all of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed immigration to Canada to a trickle.<\/p>\n

The number of new permanent residents to Quebec in the first 11 months of 2021 is also almost 9.7 per cent higher than the 40,565 new permanent residents to the province in 2019, the last full year before the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Immigration Applicants Remain Frustrated<\/h3>\n

On Twitter, though, the reassuring words of the Canadian immigration minister and Quebec\u2019s labour minister were not enough for frustrated immigration applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had enough of this situation!\u201d wrote one Twitter user. \u201cWe pay thousands of dollars to have, at the end of the day, no assistance! They don\u2019t even reply to our applications.<\/p>\n

\u201cA file that should reasonably take six months to process, the IRCC in Sydney takes 44 months to complete. Free us!\u201d<\/p>\n

In an attempt to help Quebec resolve its labour shortages, Ottawa allowed businesses in Quebec to hire twice as many temporary foreign workers<\/span><\/a> under a deal between the province and the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recruitment of temporary foreign workers is one of the options Quebec businesses will now have to deal with the labour shortage,\u201d said Boulet last August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this flexibility in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, we are supporting businesses suffering from an urgent need for workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its budget last year, Quebec invested $246 million into programs to attract and retain immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttracting and retaining immigrants to our communities, particularly those in the outlying regions, allows businesses to grow due to these skilled workers and helps resolve labour shortages in several of our economic sectors,\u201d said Girault.<\/p>\n

Quebec Increases Quotas Of Temporary Foreign Workers<\/h3>\n

Under the deal announced last year, Quebec businesses in some sectors of the economy are now able to employ temporary foreign workers for up to 20 per cent of their workforce, up from the current limit of 10 per cent, in lower-paying jobs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The agreement to relax the legal limit on temporary foreign workers in Quebec made it the first province to do so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The province also opened up a simplified application process to more in-demand jobs, including lower-skilled positions and the hard-hit hospitality sector.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite its bullish stance on immigration, Quebec Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault has nonetheless ruled out any large increases in immigration as the francophone province rebuilds its economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Instead, the premier has set his sights squarely on Quebec healing itself and building a brighter future.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, it\u2019s time for Quebec to project itself into the future,\u201d Legault reportedly said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quebec Immigration Minister Jean Boulet says Ottawa needs to improve its processing times for applications for economic immigration and study permits for international students \u2013 and Canada\u2019s immigration minister agrees. The francophone province\u2019s on-going beef about the long processing times for applications for permanent residency goes back to early last year. Previous Quebec Immigration Minister…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":54924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3415,4859,10558,20659],"tags":[5292,71265,58406,57411,71239,57641],"class_list":["post-95014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration-au-canada","category-lactualite-canadienne","category-provincial-news-fr","category-quebec-news-fr","tag-canada-immigration-fr","tag-jean-boulet-fr","tag-processing-times-fr","tag-quebec-immigration-fr","tag-sean-fraser-fr","tag-temporary-foreign-workers-fr","category-3415","category-4859","category-10558","category-20659","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}