Quebec Unleashes its New Immigration Plan for the Year 2018: Skilled Workers are now on Priority List

Quebec, the major Canadian province has recently unleashed its new immigration plan for 2018. According to the latest plan, Quebec is planning to welcome more immigrants through its numerous categories during the coming year. The skilled workers will take the major share of the priority list and other categories such as family reunification, businessmen, and refugee will follow the queue. The applicants, who had their eyes on Quebec Skilled Worker Program (QSWP) intake, were anticipating this new policy. At present, the attention of all the applicants is on Quebec Immigration plan for the year 2018.

Quebec Immigration Plan 2018

The province is considering to launch a program, similar to Expression for Interest’ model, associated with the federal express entry system. The reason for this is that unlike any other Canadian provinces, the Quebec has no express entry stream linked with its immigration program. There are possibilities that the new Immigration plan will be implemented during transition to a revived system, just like the express entry. Nevertheless, the province has shared no further details with reference to the functionality and operation of this system.

The new immigration plan consists of these two phases.

·         The province will select the target number of candidates for the CSQ (Quebec Selection Certificate)

·         Target number of applicants will receive their permanent residents

[Read More: Manitoba Introduces New Changes to its Provincial Nominee Program]

Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ)

The Quebec government will issue this particular document to the candidates who have received an allocation for the Permanent Residency via Quebec Skilled Worker Program (QSWP). These candidates will become eligible to apply directly for the Canadian permanent residency to IRCC (Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada) or federal government.

Skilled Workers Will Get Most of the Share

According to Quebec’s latest immigration plan, the skilled workers will receive majority of the invitations. Quebec is determined to issue 29,000 Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQs) under Skilled Worker category, in accordance with the new immigration plan for 2018. The two basic streams under Skilled Worker category are as under.

·         Regular Skilled Worker Program

·         Quebec Experience Program

With reference to an official announcement made by the Quebec government, the province of Quebec is planning to accept 5,000 new applications through Regular Skilled Worker Program. The province is expecting to avail this target before March 31, 2018, or at the end of present intake cycle.

A significant number of Certificates (i.e. 4,000- 6,000) will also be issued by the Quebec under the Business immigration programs such as Investors and Entrepreneurs, Self Employed, etc.

Nevertheless, the confirmed dates for the intake are still under consideration. As no intake was observed during this year, the applicants are anticipating this to occur during the first quarter of 2018.