Nicolas Simard Lafontaine, Past CILA Co-President (22-23), and Roger Pichette, CILA Board Member.
The year 2025 was a difficult one for immigrants in Quebec. Policy changes were numerous, and the rhetoric surrounding immigration was particularly harsh. Program suspensions without notice, closure of pathways to permanent residence, new French language requirements, and successive restrictions have plunged thousands of workers and international students into uncertainty. However, it was the tabling of the Plan d’immigration du Québec 2026 (Quebec Immigration Plan 2026, hereinafter the “2026 Plan”) on November 6, 2025, by Minister Jean-François Roberge that marked the culmination of this year. CILA wishes to reflect on this important chapter and offer its observations and recommendations.
This plan confirms a restrictive shift in the province’s migration policy. While the government presents it as a necessary measure to “protect our common language” and respect “receiving capacity (capacité d’accueil),” CILA is concerned about the lasting repercussions of these orientations on Quebec’s economy, demographics, and attractiveness. It is also important to note that no conclusive study identifies immigration as a threat to French in Quebec and that the notion of receiving capacity is neither defined nor quantified.
This plan, which sets the permanent admission target at approximately 45,000 people and imposes, for the first time, caps on temporary immigration, is part of a sequence of political decisions marked by populist rhetoric regarding immigration and by immigration program instability.
The following is CILA’s analysis of six (6) problematic elements of the 2026 Plan, along with our recommendations.
1. The Effective End of the PEQ
The 2026 Plan formalizes the definitive replacement of the predictable pathways to permanent residence for skilled workers and international students that the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ – Quebec Experience Program) once provided. Skilled workers will now have to go through a single new pathway: the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ – Skilled Worker Selection Program).
The PEQ was designed for French-speaking immigration candidates who held, depending on the stream, either Quebec post-secondary diplomas or two years of work experience in Quebec in a skilled position. Many foreign nationals built their stay in Quebec as students or workers based on their eligibility to this program.
For more than 10 years, Quebec attracted foreign nationals to the province by presenting the PEQ’s permanent residence admission requirements—notably through the Journées Québec (Quebec Days) talent recruitment missions abroad in France, Morocco, Tunisia, and elsewhere. Now, the 2026 Plan changes the rules for thousands of French-speaking individuals who are employed and already settled in Quebec. The lack of consistency is apparent and leaves the immigration process of thousands of workers and international students in limbo.
Ultimately, the Ministry wishes to “prioritize individuals who have acquired work experience or completed studies in Quebec,” but through a selection grid system (PSTQ) that would allow it to better control volumes and better target regional needs.
In our view, the PEQ already did an excellent job of “prioritizing individuals who have acquired work experience or completed studies in Quebec.” Simply adding regionalization parameters would have preserved the PEQ while targeting regional needs.
The PEQ was the “flagship program” of permanent immigration in Quebec; it offered a clear pathway for French-speaking candidates already integrated into Quebec society. Its elimination in favour of an invitation-based system (PSTQ) breaks the promise made to international students and workers.
For the sake of consistency, respect, and fairness, we ask the Government of Quebec to grant an extension of PEQ eligibility for international students already enrolled in an eligible program in Quebec and for foreign workers already employed in an eligible position in Quebec.
2. The Operational Unpredictability of the PSTQ
The 2026 Plan confirms the full implementation of the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ – Skilled Worker Selection Program) as the sole and mandatory pathway for economic permanent immigration candidates, thereby replacing the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ) and other previous programs.
Unlike the PEQ, which offered a transparent pathway based on fixed criteria, the PSTQ relies on an invitation system issued by the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI – Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration) based on a wide range of selection parameters.
MIFI can thus determine which candidates it wishes to invite based on an extremely varied and unpredictable list of selection criteria. The official objective of MIFI is to better control admission volumes and better target regional and sectoral needs; however, in doing so, it introduces operational unpredictability that undermines the entire permanent immigration process in Quebec.
Indeed, the multiplicity and unpredictability of invitation criteria—which combine a points grid (awarded for age, professional experience, diplomas, French proficiency, and a validated job offer) with qualitative factors such as region of residence in Quebec, type of diploma, occupation (aligned with labour market needs), and even specific streams (exceptional talent, regulated professions, or regional mobility)—are the very source of the uncertainty. These elements are not static: MIFI can adjust minimum point thresholds, priority occupations, or regional quotas without notice, making medium-term planning impossible for candidates.
Consider the example of a 32-year-old French-speaking nurse with a Quebec diploma and two years of experience at the CHUM (Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal). Under the former PEQ, she would have been eligible almost automatically, with a clear pathway and predictable timelines (6–12 months for the Certificat de sélection du Québec – CSQ, Quebec Selection Certificate). Under the PSTQ, however, her profile must first be entered into the ARRIMA pool, and she must wait until a selection round eventually targets her profile. In the meantime, she must rely on renewing her temporary worker status if she wishes to remain in Quebec.
It is also important to note that the PSTQ contains significant blind spots, leaving many workers—French-speaking and established in Quebec—with no pathway to permanent status.
For the sake of predictability, we propose that the Government of Quebec publish in advance the invitation criteria that will be used under the PSTQ and establish, as part of its annual plan, a regional distribution of PSTQ rounds by stream (volet) and by region of Quebec. Such an exercise seems feasible to us; it could address the concerns we raise and improve Quebec’s immigration planning.
3. The Reduction of Permanent Targets (45,000) to Respect Receiving Capacity
The government has set the permanent admission target at approximately 45,000. Although this target is the highest among those considered during public consultations, it remains below the demands of economic stakeholders such as the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ – Quebec Employers’ Council), Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ – Quebec Manufacturers and Exporters), and chambers of commerce, which estimate the need at between 60,000 and 100,000 permanent admissions to offset retirements.
According to the government of Quevec, this reduction aims to “reduce some of the pressure observed in recent years on access to housing and health care services.” However, in reality, the vast majority of permanent resident admissions benefit individuals who are already temporary residents. In other words, the permanent residents targeted by the reduction in targets are already in Quebec, already occupying housing, already receiving care in Quebec’s health care system, and already sending their children to Quebec daycares and schools.
Reducing permanent immigration thresholds most likely has no impact on the pressure felt on what the government calls Quebec’s receiving capacity—without taking the trouble to define or quantify it.
The practical effect of such a threshold is to increase the period during which foreign nationals wishing to become permanent residents of Canada in Quebec must remain under temporary status (work permit or study permit). As a result, the most qualified and educated immigration candidates (those with many opportunities outside Quebec) are likely to leave Quebec, its businesses, and its economy.
Immigrants in precarious situations, such as refugees and protected persons (those who have no choice), are likely to remain in Quebec until they become permanent residents in 10, 15, or 20 years.
In our view, the correlation between the permanent admission threshold and receiving capacity is a meaningless argument that fuels public sentiment against immigration. This discourse also completely ignores the fact that immigration—both temporary and permanent—is part of the solution to our societal challenges of access to housing, health care, and a high-performing public education system.
In the short term, we propose that the Government of Quebec implement higher thresholds aimed at absorbing French-speaking permanent residents from all categories (economic, family reunification, and humanitarian) as quickly as possible. At a minimum, Quebec government targets should represent 20% to 22% of the federal target, which corresponds to Quebec’s current demographic weight. Subsequently, once a reduction in the number of temporary residents as a proportion of Quebec’s population has been achieved, we believe the Government of Quebec could gradually tighten permanent and temporary admission rules and reduce its targets in order to “respect Quebec’s receiving capacity,” which, we hope, will by then be objectively assessed.
4. The Reduction of Temporary Admissions
While CILA welcomes the inclusion of temporary immigration in Quebec’s planning exercise, we must nevertheless question the methodology used to establish the targets.
Two different realities should, in our view, be at the heart of these objectives.
For international students, it is important to consult designated learning institutions to fully understand their contribution in terms of funding their educational activities, as well as their role in launching cohorts that would otherwise be cancelled in important fields of study. A reduction in the number of international students for the sole purpose of presenting a politically favorable immigration target risks depriving Quebec of recent graduates in several programs targeted by employers facing talent shortages.
For foreign workers, it should be noted that those included in Quebec’s planning are subject to obtaining a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA, known in French as Évaluation de l’impact sur le marché du travail – EIMT). In Québec, the LMIA analysis is conducted jointly by the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada and aims to demonstrate a Quebec labour market need that the local workforce is either unable or unwilling to fill. Thus, 100% of the foreign workers included in the 2026 Plan are subject to demonstrating a labour shortage upfront.
In our view, the planning effort for workers should aim to address labour shortages in certain sectors.
In this context, a positive planning approach targeting occupations in shortage in certain regions of Quebec and proposing a target that would align supply and demand in the labour market would be possible. Sectors experiencing shortages—such as construction, education, manufacturing, and early childhood education—most likely need support. A general and restrictive target like the one proposed appears to us to be a simplistic approach that could benefit from refinement to better meet Quebec’s needs.
5. The Imposition of New French Language Requirements for TFWs: An Unrealistic Target for Employers
CILA recognizes the importance of placing French at the heart of Quebec’s immigration policies. Moreover, the proportion of newcomers to Quebec who speak French currently stands at around 73%.
However, the regulatory amendments of December 17, 2025, requiring French proficiency to renew a temporary work permit disproportionately shift the burden of francization onto employers. We believe it is important to emphasize that a significant portion of employers (whom we advise daily) are already making considerable efforts to provide the best possible integration of their workers into Quebec society, including in terms of francization.
Regulatory amendments related to the francization of foreign workers therefore create undue pressure on employers and workers and create a climate of uncertainty for employers who could lose effective, trained, and valued workers based on poor performance on a language test at an arbitrarily fixed point in their immigration journey. This approach, motivated by linguistic priorities, does not appear constructive from an economic standpoint.
Ironically, let us recall that MIFI has faced significant challenges in deploying its francization services, with massive class closures across the province in 2024–2025. CILA believes that for such a measure to be viable, significant advances in the francization services offered by MIFI must precede the implementation of the francization requirements scheduled for 2028.
6. The Structural Problem with Family Reunification
CILA believes that the family reunification stream (sponsorships) requires a different approach.
Indeed, this category affects families of Quebecers who wish to be reunited with their immediate family members (often a spouse). Currently, sponsorship applications submitted in Quebec take approximately three times longer to process than those submitted in other Canadian provinces. The delays are due in part to the imposition of annual quotas by MIFI—applications are therefore blocked at the crucial stage of the undertaking application.
The MIFI website currently displays the following (translation from FR):
The maximum number of undertaking applications to sponsor a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, or dependent child aged 18 or older has been reached for the period from June 26, 2024, to June 25, 2026. This means that:
- The Ministry is no longer accepting new undertaking applications for these individuals until June 25, 2026;
- You will be able to submit an undertaking application for these individuals when a new application intake period opens.
The Ministry continues to accept undertaking applications for other family members for family reunification.
CILA denounces the establishment of quotas that directly impact the quality of life of Quebec families and creates a multitude of difficult human situations. The imposition of quotas is moreover not justified by the argument of reception and integration, since these challenges are generally minimized in this category given the direct and ongoing involvement of immediate family members.
While it is consistent to include sponsored individuals in the 2026 Plan, we do not understand the underlying motivations and believe that MIFI should end this policy.
Conclusion
CILA recognizes the need to carry out immigration planning that is as comprehensive as possible and commends the efforts in this regard, particularly the inclusion of temporary immigration in this exercise for the first time. However, it is important to caution against the use of this exercise for political purposes.
Moreover, since the announcement of the 2026 Plan, thousands of immigrants, several sectoral organizations, and numerous business community stakeholders have mobilized to denounce the abolition of the PEQ without notice. Demonstrations took place in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke in November and December 2025 to demand a grandfather clause for workers and students already established in Quebec.
The government has closed the door to this option. The consequences of this sudden measure on Quebec’s attractiveness as a welcoming society for qualified French-speaking talent are significant and risk harming Quebec’s economic and social fabric. Beyond the PEQ, the unpredictability of the new PSTQ, the language requirements imposed without adequate francization services, and the unacceptable delays in family reunification all point to an approach that would benefit from being reconsidered.
In summary, CILA recommends that the Government of Quebec:
- Grant an extension of PEQ eligibility for individuals already established in Quebec;
- Publish PSTQ invitation criteria in advance to allow for immigration pathway planning;
- Align permanent immigration targets with Quebec’s demographic weight;
- Target sectors experiencing shortages rather than impose general caps on temporary immigration;
- Substantially strengthen francization services before the new requirements come into effect in 2028;
- Review the quota policy for family reunification.
Certainly, Quebec’s receiving capacity exists; we also believe it should be clearly defined by the Government of Quebec. However, CILA proposes that the annual planning exercise should first aim to define Quebec’s reception needs in order to address the province’s demographic and labour challenges. The practical exercise would then be to adjust Quebec’s receiving capacity to match its reception needs to ensure an optimal contribution of immigration to Quebec’s social and economic fabric. We firmly believe that such an approach will be both more constructive and healthier than the war of numbers (often misunderstood) that currently makes the front page of Quebec newspapers.
In this election year in Quebec, we hope that the government and the political parties of the province are listening to experts, sectoral associations, Quebecers, businesses, and immigrants on immigration issues. We sincerely hope to see a more productive and positive discourse on the subject in the coming year.
