The government of Quebec has disclosed that they will engage the general public for consultations involving changes to be made to the immigration programs and policies of their province. In this connection, a proposal was released the other day. This covered many suggested changes into the immigration programs of the province for the duration of 2012-2015.

Thanks to the Canada-Quebec deal, Quebec has the right to choose most immigrants keen on migrating to their province, which boasts of numerous immigration programs — most of which are big hits. In 2010, the province rolled out red carpet welcome to over 54,000 migrants who came from more than 185 nations.

With a view to cater to the requirements related to labor, apart from making the number of admissions stable, the province is contemplating to introduce these changes:

Make the number stable

To enable the successful approval of nearly 50,000 applicants annually, the province has proposals to stabilize the total number of admissions for the period of 2012-2015. The province also wishes to make certain that between 65% and 75% of the skilled workers, who get the go-ahead, are not above 35. Last but not least, Quebec is looking forward to having most of the applying individuals, who get a green signal, close to 65%, to be from the economic classes.

Restrict by area

Last year, as much as 37% of immigrants into Quebec were from the African continent, while 25% came from the Asian continent, 21% from the Americas (North & South), and the remaining 17% from the European continent. One suggested change is to reduce this number and restrict the number to 30% per region, to boost diversity among the aspirants.

Raise French proficiency levels

Sixty-five percent of the aspirants, who got a green signal, the year before were proficient in French. This is an altogether another matter that the levels of proficiency in the language were not the same amongst the applying individuals. To control this problem and improve the situation, Quebec proposes to raise the level of proficiency in the language required for immigration purposes.