Québec révise ses critères de résidence permanente pour les immigrants économiques

2025/07/07 Leave a comment

A noter:

Il est de nouveau possible, depuis cette semaine, d’emprunter une des principales voies d’accès vers l’immigration permanente au Québec. Et le gouvernement Legault a fixé de nouveaux critères de sélection mercredi.

Comme annoncé le mois dernier par le ministre de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration du Québec, Jean-François Roberge, le Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés du Québec (PSTQ) est rouvert. Dès ce mois-ci, Québec transmettra de nouveau des invitations à présenter une demande de sélection permanente par le biais de ce canal, la principale porte d’entrée pour l’immigration économique au Québec.

Suspendu depuis l’automne dernier, le PSTQ a été revu de fond en comble par le ministre Roberge le printemps dernier. Il en a publié les critères et le système de pointage dans la Gazette officielle du Québec mercredi.

Les travailleurs déjà installés avantagés

Comme il l’avait affirmé précédemment, le gouvernement priorisera les profils d’immigrants déjà établis au Québec dans sa sélection des futurs résidents permanents québécois. Une personne qui a travaillé plus de 48 mois au Québec obtiendra 160 points, le maximum atteignable, alors qu’une personne qui travaille en territoire québécois depuis moins d’un an n’en obtiendra aucun.

Auparavant, un immigrant commençait à accumuler des points après six mois de travail en territoire québécois. Le total maximal de points, accordé à ceux qui avaient occupé un emploi au Québec sur une durée d’au moins quatre ans, était de 100.

Avec ce nouveau système, le gouvernement de François Legault souhaite favoriser l’accession au statut de résident permanent de davantage de travailleurs déjà installés au Québec.

Ceux qui parlent français et qui habitent à l’extérieur du territoire de la Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal auront aussi de meilleures chances d’être sélectionnés.

Un ressortissant étranger pourra en effet se voir accorder jusqu’à 200 points selon sa compréhension et sa production écrites et orales en français. S’il choisit d’immigrer avec un époux ou un conjoint de fait, ce dernier pourra contribuer au pointage, qui sera toutefois de 160 au maximum. Une compréhension du français de niveau 1 à 4, sur 12 paliers, ne produira aucun point.

Les personnes immigrantes ayant séjourné, travaillé ou étudié à l’extérieur de Montréal toucheront également des points supplémentaires, selon la durée de leur implication.

Comme c’était le cas auparavant, les personnes plus jeunes se verront récompensées avec un pointage plus élevé (100 points ou plus pour les moins de 33 ans). Celles qui ont un diplôme universitaire également, et d’autant plus s’il a été obtenu au Québec (200 points pour un diplôme universitaire québécois de troisième cycle).

Ni PEQ ni parrainage collectif

Toute personne souhaitant accéder à la résidence permanente par le biais du PSTQ doit déposer une « déclaration d’intérêt » à travers le système d’immigration Arrima. Une fois reçue, celle-ci est classée selon le système de pointage en vigueur.

À l’heure actuelle, le PSTQ est une des rares portes d’entrée accessibles vers l’immigration permanente.

Le Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ), qui vise lui aussi à accélérer l’accession de diplômés et de travailleurs temporaires à un statut permanent, fait l’objet d’un moratoire. Il est donc impossible de déposer de nouvelles demandes. Même chose pour le programme de parrainage collectif.

Jean-François Roberge affirme que ces gels permettront « de respecter les cibles de sélection prévues au plan d’immigration du Québec pour 2025 ».

Après avoir accueilli autour de 67 000 immigrants permanents en 2025 (soit le seuil attendu), le gouvernement souhaite réduire radicalement ses cibles en 2026. Cet automne, il soumettra à la consultation des scénarios de cibles à 25 000, 35 000 et 45 000 nouveaux arrivants permanents.

Source: Québec révise ses critères de résidence permanente pour les immigrants économiques

It is again possible, since this week, to use one of the main access routes to permanent immigration in Quebec. And the Legault government set new selection criteria on Wednesday.

As announced last month by Quebec’s Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, Jean-François Roberge, the Quebec Skilled Worker Selection Program (QPS) is reopening. Starting this month, Quebec will again send invitations to apply for permanent selection through this channel, the main gateway for economic immigration to Quebec.

Suspended since last fall, the PSTQ was thoroughly reviewed by Minister Roberge last spring. He published the criteria and the score system in the Gazette officielle du Québec on Wednesday.

Already installed workers at an advantage

As stated earlier, the government will prioritize immigrant profiles already established in Quebec in its selection of future Quebec permanent residents. A person who has worked more than 48 months in Quebec will get 160 points, the maximum attainable, while a person who has worked in Quebec territory for less than a year will not get any.

Previously, an immigrant began to accumulate points after six months of work in Quebec territory. The maximum total of points, granted to those who had held a job in Quebec for a period of at least four years, was 100.

With this new system, the government of François Legault wishes to promote the access to permanent resident status of more workers already settled in Quebec.

Those who speak French and who live outside the territory of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal will also have a better chance of being selected.

A foreign national may indeed be awarded up to 200 points according to his written and oral understanding and production in French. If he chooses to immigrate with a spouse or common-law partner, the latter may contribute to the score, which will however be a maximum of 160. An understanding of French from level 1 to 4, on 12 levels, will not produce any points.

Immigrants who have stayed, worked or studied outside of Montreal will also receive additional points, depending on the duration of their involvement.

As was the case before, younger people will be rewarded with a higher score (100 points or more for those under 33). Those who also have a university degree, and even more so if it was obtained in Quebec (200 points for a Quebec postgraduate university degree).

Neither PEQ nor collective sponsorship

Anyone wishing to access permanent residence through the PSTQ must file a “declaration of interest” through the Arrima immigration system. Once received, it is classified according to the current pointing system.

Currently, the PSTQ is one of the few accessible gateways to permanent immigration.

The Quebec Experience Program (QEP), which also aims to accelerate the access of graduates and temporary workers to permanent status, is subject to a moratorium. It is therefore impossible to submit new applications. Same thing for the collective sponsorship program.

Jean-François Roberge says that these freezes will make it possible to “meet the selection targets set out in Quebec’s immigration plan for 2025”.

After welcoming around 67,000 permanent immigrants in 2025 (the expected threshold), the government wants to radically reduce its targets in 2026. This fall, it will submit target scenarios to 25,000, 35,000 and 45,000 permanent newcomers for consultation.

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Mahboubi: Why have a target for cutting temporary immigration if Canada can’t meet it?

2025/07/07 Leave a comment

Hard not to agree:

…But any reductions should not come at any cost. Asylum reform must ensure that the system serves those in genuine need of protection, rather than as an alternative pathway to permanent residency or prolonged stay. 

Likewise, while the student permit cap has curbed numbers, it has hurt the entire postsecondary sector. A larger cap is not the answer; what’s needed is a shift in focus toward attracting high-quality applicants and supporting sectors that benefit most from temporary residents. The goal should not be just about quantity, but also about the quality of entrants and their alignment with long-term national objectives.

What’s needed now is a more credible and co-ordinated approach – one that combines realistic targets, reliable data systems, effective enforcement and reforms to the asylum system in a way that balances efficiency with fairness. It also means being honest about what can reasonably be achieved in the short-term, and recognizing that Canada’s growing reliance on temporary residents is not just a numbers problem, but a structural one.

Until then, pressures associated with Canada’s large temporary population will continue to build, and the 5-per-cent target will remain more aspirational than achievable.

Source: Why have a target for cutting temporary immigration if Canada can’t meet it?

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Immigrants with no criminal convictions represent sharpest growth in ICE detention population

2025/07/07 Leave a comment

Not surprising, unfortunately, no respect for rule of law, due process and competence:

President Trump is enacting a mass deportation campaign promised to be the largest in U.S. history. New data is giving a clearer picture of exactly what that looks like: at least 56,000 immigrants are being held in ICE detention.

According to the Deportation Data Project, a group that collects immigration numbers, about half the people in detention don’t have criminal convictions. That’s close to 30,000 people in detention, without a criminal record — the group that has grown the most in recent months.

“You listen to Tom Homan and Stephen Miller, they’re saying things like they are going after the worst of the worst, the people who are murderers,” says UCLA Professor Graeme Blair, referring to President Trump’s ‘Border czar’ Tom Homan and key White House Aide Stephen Miller. “That’s just not what the data says about the people that they are actually arresting.”

Source: Immigrants with no criminal convictions represent sharpest growth in ICE detention population

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Emigration up, immigration down: Trends contributing to slower population growth, says StatCan

2025/07/05 Leave a comment

Of note:

The number of people leaving the country has been slowly increasing in recent years, according to recent data from Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, immigration levels are down in the wake of federal reductions. Both these trends are contributing to a larger picture of significantly slowing population growth, according to StatCan analysis.


StatCan includes Canadian citizens and permanent residents when it refers to emigration or emigrants — folks who leave Canada to reestablish their permanent residence in another country. Immigrants, people who come to live in Canada, include permanent residents and landed immigrants.

How many people have been leaving Canada?


During the first quarter of this year, 27,086 people emigrated from Canada. It was 25,394 in the first quarter of 2022, then 25,536 in the first quarter of 2023 and up to 26,293 in the same quarter of 2024. The number of emigrants peaked at more than 31,000 in the third quarter of 2017, and hit over 30K midway through 2018 and 2019.

The number of emigrants peaked at more than 31,000 in the third quarter of 2017, and hit over 30K midway through 2018 and 2019.


The lowest emigration level in recent years was in the second quarter of 2020 — at just 7,431. Though, that’s unsurprising considering it is when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. After that, emigration started ramping up again.


What are the predictors of likely emigration?


A 2024 StatCan report looked at the likelihood of departure by folks who had previously immigrated to Canada.


It showed that 5.1 per cent  of immigrants admitted between 1982 and 2017 emigrated within five years of arriving. That number jumped to 17.5 per cent 20 years after entering Canada.

The report did not present data on eventual destinations as “emigrants are not required to report their departure from Canada or their destination,” Jada Cormier a communications officer with Statistics Canada told National Post in an email….

Source: Emigration up, immigration down: Trends contributing to slower population growth, says StatCan

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Thousands of foreigners’ criminal convictions forgiven by Ottawa over 11-year span, raising transparency concerns

2025/07/03 2 Comments

Rempel Garner and Kurland correct to call for more transparency:

More than 17,500 foreigners have had their criminal convictions forgiven by the Immigration Department over the past 11 years, removing a bar to coming to Canada, federal government figures show. The disclosure has raised transparency concerns about the type of offences they committed.

Foreigners are, in general, inadmissible to Canada if they have been convicted of an act that is considered a criminal offence in this country. But Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has the power to grant an exception if five years have elapsed since a person was convicted or finished a sentence. 

Government figures show that in the 11 years up to and including 2024, 17,600 people convicted of criminal offences abroad were considered “rehabilitated” by IRCC. This meant they were able to apply to enter Canada, including through work and study visas, as permanent residents or visitors. 

IRCC has not, however, released a breakdown of the kind of criminal offences that were forgiven. It said in a statement to The Globe and Mail that the Immigration Minister would be involved in decisions relating to the most serious offences. …

Source: Thousands of foreigners’ criminal convictions forgiven by Ottawa over 11-year span, raising transparency concerns

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Federal minister plans to hold consultations this summer on immigration intake

2025/06/30 Leave a comment

Early test of Liberal government and Minister Diab regarding maintaining or easing restrictions (most of those consulted will ague for the latter):

The federal government will use this summer’s planned consultation on immigration targets to guide future decisions about how many study visas it will issue to international students in the future, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said.

In a recent interview with University Affairs magazine, Diab said the annual immigration levels consultations will reach out to the provinces, university administrators and students themselves, as the government looks to ensure the visa system for students is “sustainable.”

This summer’s annual immigration levels consultations come as multiple universities and colleges face budget constraints after Canada began clawing back on the number of student visas last year amid concerns the number had grown so quickly schools could not provide adequate supports, including housing.

Julie Lafortune, an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokeswoman, says the government expects schools to only accept students they can “reasonably support” by providing housing and other services.

“The annual growth in the number of international students couldn’t be sustained while ensuring students receive the support they need. Study permit applications subject to the cap require an attestation letter from a province or territory,” Lafortune said in an emailed response. 

The current immigration levels plan lays out targets for admitting permanent and temporary residents through 2027, and Lafortune said the upcoming consultations will help the government decide how many newcomers will be admitted in coming years.

Post-secondary institutions across the country are posting deficit budgets this year, laying off staff and cutting programs as international student enrolment drops. Schools had become increasingly reliant on international student fees to balance their books.

Universities Canada president Gabriel Miller previously told The Canadian Press that international student tuition acted as a “stopgap” to make up for years of “inadequate” funding at the provincial and territorial level. …

Source: Federal minister plans to hold consultations this summer on immigration intake

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Canada updates list of study programs that qualify international students for work permits

2025/06/28 Leave a comment

Further tightening:

To better align immigrant selection with Canada’s labour market needs, Ottawa is refining what academic programs are going to qualify international students for the coveted postgraduation work permit.

The Immigration Department has updated its eligibility list, adding 119 new fields of study and removing 178 others based on jobs with long-term shortages. A total of 920 coded programs remain eligible.

The Liberal government has been criticized for the soaring number of international students, who had increasingly used the international education program to come and work in Canada in order to ultimately earn permanent residence in the country.

Many international students enrolled in general programs at institutions that former immigration minister Marc Miller called “diploma mills,” studying in subjects that had no relevance to what’s needed in the labour market.

Last November, the Immigration Department started requiring international students in nondegree programs (programs other than bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees) to complete a program in an eligible field of study to qualify for the postgraduation work permit.

As part of the plan to improve the integrity of the international education system, Miller not only capped the number of study permits issued, but also restricted the access to postgraduation work permits, which could be valid for up to three years and provided the incentive for people to study in Canada.

“It is not the intention of this program to have sham commerce degrees and business degrees that are sitting on top of a massage parlour,” Miller told reporters at a news conference last year. “This is something we need to rein in.” 

According to CIC News, an online media outlet on Canadian immigration, the additional qualifying programs cover health care and social services, education and trades.

However, it said, many of the agricultural and agri-food programs such as farm management and crop production were removed from the list, along with Indigenous education, student counselling and personnel services, environmental studies, building/property maintenance, drywall installation, solar energy technology, airframe mechanics and aircraft maintenance technology, among others.

The Immigration Department says students who applied for a study permit before June 25, 2025, will still be eligible for postgraduation work permits if their field of study was on the list when they applied for their study permit even if it has since been removed.

Source: Canada updates list of study programs that qualify international students for work permits

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Québec demande au nouveau gouvernement fédéral sa collaboration en immigration

2025/06/28 Leave a comment

Of note:

Québec demande à Ottawa de plafonner à 200 000 le nombre de résidents non permanents qui relèvent exclusivement du gouvernement fédéral sur son territoire. Dans une lettre envoyée à ses homologues, le ministre québécois de l’Immigration demande aussi que les régions québécoises soient épargnées par le tour de vis imposé aux entreprises qui embauchent des travailleurs temporaires.

Une « clause de type grand-père » doit s’appliquer aux compagnies en région qui ont embauché des travailleurs étrangers, affirme le ministre Jean-François Roberge dans une lettre dont Le Devoir a obtenu copie.

Le fédéral a décrété l’automne dernier que les employeurs pourront embaucher cette catégorie d’immigrants jusqu’à hauteur de 10 % de leur effectif total, alors que la limite était auparavant de 20 % pour la plupart des industries.

« Le refus de traitement des demandes dans les régions métropolitaines de recensement où le taux de chômage est plus élevé [est une] mesure efficace », explique-t-il. Laval et Montréal n’ont plus besoin de nouveaux travailleurs, alors que « le maintien du niveau de TET [travailleurs étrangers temporaires] dans certaines régions est crucial pour de nombreuses entreprises confrontées à d’importants enjeux de main-d’œuvre ».

Ottawa a déjà commencé à refuser de renouveler des permis temporaires dans les régions centrales de Montréal et de Laval.

Source: Québec demande au nouveau gouvernement fédéral sa collaboration en immigration

Quebec is asking Ottawa to cap the number of non-permanent residents who are exclusively under the federal government’s jurisdiction at 200,000. In a letter sent to his counterparts, the Quebec Minister of Immigration also asked that Quebec regions be spared the screwing imposed on companies that hire temporary workers.

A “grandfather-type clause” must apply to regional companies that have hired foreign workers, says Minister Jean-François Roberge in a letter of which Le Devoir obtained a copy.

The federal government decreed last fall that employers will be able to hire this immigrant category up to 10% of their total workforce, whereas the previous limit was 20% for most industries.

“The refusal to process applications in census metropolitan areas where the unemployment rate is higher [is a] effective measure,” he explains. Laval and Montreal no longer need new workers, while “maintaining the level of TET [temporary foreign workers] in some regions is crucial for many companies facing significant labour issues”.

Ottawa has already begun to refuse to renew temporary permits in the central regions of Montreal and Laval.

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Sabrina Maddeaux: Canada’s immigration absolutists are refusing to correct course, no matter the cost 

2025/06/27 Leave a comment

Although intemperate and unbalanced, fundamentally correct in her critique:

…What is radical is the Century Initiative, whose dogged ideology rejects reality, denying and distorting evidence to pursue their vision, regardless of who else it hurts. There are many examples of this, but some are more egregious than others.

First is the Century Initiative’s claim that any reduction in immigration will harm housing affordability. Of course, it’s actually soaring immigration numbers far in excess of the housing stock that largely contributed to the housing crisis. In 2022, the federal public service warned Trudeau’s government about this consequence. In 2024, BMO economist Robert Kavcic wrote in a client note, “We’ve been firm in our argument that Canada has an excess demand problem in housing…non-permanent resident inflows, on net, have swelled to about 800k in the latest year, with few checks and balances in place, putting tremendous stress on housing supply and infrastructure.”

Yet somehow, the Century Initiative hasn’t gotten the message. Rather, their report argues, “housing supply shortages may be exacerbated due to the important role of immigrants filling critical labour shortages in Canada’s residential home construction industry.” They claim “the construction industry continues to rely heavily on immigrants to fill critical labour market gaps” and cite that “more than 1 in 5 general contractors and builders are immigrants.”

That figure may be true, but it’s also misleading because the immigrants who work as contractors and builders include those who arrived years, if not decades, before the recent immigration surge. In fact, a December 2023 Bank of Canada report on the matter notes, “A rise in immigration to Canada may contribute more to housing imbalances than found in studies of other countries. This is because Canada already has imbalances between its housing supply and demand and because relatively few newcomers join the construction industry.”1

At the same time, the authors state immigrants tend to boost near-term demand for rental accommodation while using funds brought from their home countries to achieve similar home ownership rates to those born in Canada within just a decade.

The bottom line: we know mass immigration greatly boosts housing demand, while data showing any meaningful boost to supply—and certainly enough supply to offset said demand—does not exist.

The Century Initiative also makes the argument that continued mass immigration is essential to Canada’s economic growth and prosperity, writing, “reduced immigration levels will reduce Canada’s nominal GDP by $37 billion over the next 3 years and accelerate Canada’s trajectory toward economic decline.” However, using nominal GDP instead of GDP per capita to measure prosperity conveniently glosses over some stark realities.

Nominal GDP measures the total value of goods and services a country produces. It is easily juiced with higher population numbers and doesn’t account for the distribution of wealth within an economy or individual living standards. This is what GDP per capita, which divides GDP by the total population of the country, does. Canada’s GDP continues to hover around pre-pandemic levels, despite enormous population growth, as we fall further and further behind the U.S. and other peer economies. This is why Canadian economists have called using GDP in this context “a mirage of economic prosperity.”

The Century Initiative’s report goes on to make many, many mentions of “significant labour shortages” in “critical industries” to justify reversing immigration curbs. Yet, most of its attention is spent on attracting U.S. researchers and academics with a vague mention of IT and cybersecurity workers related to national security. There may be opportunities to recruit some true stars in these fields, but it’s unclear why the Century Initiative feels these very rare, exceptional talents couldn’t possibly be accommodated within Mark Carney’s 415,000 new permanent residents per year?

Otherwise, the Century Initiative is pretty mum on so-called labour shortages, because there aren’t many in Canada these days, let alone those that could be solved through more immigration. Rather, reckless immigration policies have suppressed wages in many sectors and contributed to soaring unemployment, especially for younger Canadians.2

Canada couldn’t keep up with the mass immigration targets set by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, and recent reductions are only a first step on the path to correcting the tremendous harm done. This is no longer a controversial statement for most Canadians, regardless of political stripe, because data, lived experience, and a basic understanding of math make it blindingly obvious. If you are already struggling to find enough homes, doctors, and jobs for five people, there’s going to be a problem when you try to accommodate 10.3

Instead of recognizing this and correcting course, the Century Initiative chooses instead to double down on its singular worldview at the expense of reason and the welfare of Canadians—particularly younger ones. They are not big thinkers, but extremists in pursuit of a narrow goal at the expense of all else.

Source: Sabrina Maddeaux: Canada’s immigration absolutists are refusing to correct course, no matter the cost

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Over half of Canada’s 2025 study permits going to international students already here

2025/06/27 Leave a comment

Part of the adjustment process. Will be interesting to see how the provinces priorize new study permits between universities and colleges and by discipline:

The number of new study permits approved in 2025 is expected to drop by 50 per cent from last year as a growing number of the permits are going to international students changing schools or programs, or extending their studies in Canada, according to new projections.

Fewer new international students — the result of a decline in new study permit applications and approval rates — could spell trouble for the postsecondary education sector, which will continue to see enrolment drop for at least the next three years, warns an analysis by ApplyBoard based on the latest government data.

“Onshore students and students extending their studies may help Canada reach its cap targets in 2025, but this trend is unlikely to hold in future years,” said the forecast released Wednesday.

“Search engine data has shown that interest in studying in Canada has fallen at a greater rate than for Australia, the U.K. or the U.S. And with issued study permit extensions now outpacing new study permits, the flow of new international students toward Canadian institutions is weakening.”

Canada should be alarmed by the low new student count, said Meti Basiri, CEO and co-founder of the online marketplace for learning institutions and international students.

“We have effectively closed the tap,” he told the Star. “When your graduation exceeds significantly your entry into the process … two years from now you will have no students because you graduated everyone.” 

Last year, Ottawa capped the number of new study permits issued in order to reduce international student admission by 35 per cent, as Canada’s temporary resident population was soaring. The cap did not apply to students for master’s and doctoral programs or in elementary and secondary schools.

This year, the study permit caps were reduced by another 10 per cent and include those pursuing post-graduate studies in the country.

Leveraging early 2025 study permit data, ApplyBoard projects the total number of study permits issued may reach 420,000, just short of the overall cap (437,000). However, Basiri said that’s deceiving because only 163,000 of these permits are going to new international students, half of the volume admitted in 2024 and nearly 70 per cent fewer than 2023….

Source: Over half of Canada’s 2025 study permits going to international students already here

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