The government has made some tweaks and changes to the point system for selecting immigrants in hopes of increasing the proportion of immigrants who speak French on arrival with a 20 percent increase to about 82 percent.
Immigration and Cultural Communities Minister Diane De Courcy said “We want people who choose Quebec to be able not only to live and work in French, but also to find a job more easily.”
With the new rules, it means prospective newcomers in the skilled-worker category won’t even be considered unless they can demonstrate a higher level of competence in French than in the past year, when applicants could receive points for speaking French at the beginner’s level.
From 2008 to 2012, 37.7 per cent of immigrants to Quebec spoke both English and French, while 25.3 per cent spoke French only, 16.3 per cent spoke English only, and 20.7 per cent
spoke neither French nor English.
Diane De Courcy said that the new measures will ensure that new arrivals in Canada will be able to find work more easily in Quebec by assuring that they already speak French when they arrive.
De Courcy suggested that applicants could first learn French from outside the province by practicing with online courses offered by the Quebec government. The new rules will come into force on March 31 and will apply to requests from skilled workers, investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed applicants.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
