As injunction takes hold, Quebec immigration applicants seek clarity

Aspiring immigrants to Quebec are expressing both optimism and resignation at a court order that forces the provincial government to continue processing their applications for a Quebec selection certificate.

Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled legislation earlier this month that will scrap more than 18,000 outstanding applications to settle in Quebec as skilled workers.

Without waiting for the proposed legislation, Bill 9, to be passed, Jolin-Barrette ordered his ministry to immediately stop processing the applications that had already been filed.

A Superior Court judge issued a 10-day injunction Monday ordering the Ministry of Immigration to continue treating those applications. 

"I'm happy to see a bit of justice in this affair that has been so arbitrary," said Fernanda Pérez Gay Juárez, a physician who graduated recently with a PhD in neuroscience from McGill University. "But we'll have to see what it means, how long it will take, how many files they'll be able to deal with.

The injunction request, filed by an association of immigration lawyers, was the first legal test for Bill 9, a sweeping set of reforms proposed by Jolin-Barrette.

On Tuesday, Quebec's opposition parties pressed Jolin-Barrette to commit to processing all 18,000 outstanding skilled-worker applications before Bill 9 is adopted by the National Assembly.

"The minister must commit today to deal with the 18,000 cases affecting 50,000 people," said Dominique Anglade, the Liberal immigration critic and MNA for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne.

The immigration minister declined to say how many files can be processed before the law comes into effect, but he did indicate the government would deal with applications until Bill 9 is passed.

Jolin-Barrette also said the government won't take any measures to speed up the process.

"The same resources will be allocated for this task that were allocated before," he said.

Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters Tuesday there is "an urgency to set aside the old first-come, first-served system."

Seeking certainty

Pérez Gay Juárez applied for the Quebec selection certificate, which is required by Quebec residents to get permanent residence status in Canada, 13 months ago. She is on a student visa that expires at the end of March and plans to continue her stay on a one-year post-graduate work visa.

But as she closes in on six years of living on temporary visas, she wants certainty that she can stay.

"To establish yourself you need permanent residency," she said. "I can extend my temporary residency, but it has been a long time."

For other aspiring immigrants, the court order is not enough to ease concerns about their future in the province.

Francisco Morataya, who works in information technology in Magog, said he's already given up on his application

"It's been one year and one month, and they haven't even touched it," he said. "I'm sure they are not going to pick up my file." 

Morataya said he's waiting for the government to refund his application fee, and he's going to apply instead through the Quebec Experience Program, a pathway to permanent residency for people who have graduated from certain academic programs in Quebec.

Dario Gomez, a 25-year-old from Venezuela who applied for his Quebec selection certificate in 2017, said in a text message that the status of his application has not changed online since yesterday's injunction.

"I'm not going to set my hopes too high," Gomez texted. "The CAQ seems pretty adamant to cancel the applications to impose their new law that, is not only unfair, but a bit xenophobic."