Quebec Considers Slashing Immigration Quotas, Impacting Foreign Workers and Newcomers

Is the Legault government going to tighten its immigration policy? It "will evaluate the possibility of welcoming 25,000, 35,000 or 45,000 new arrivals per year starting next year," report TVA Nouvelles and Le Journal de Québec, adding that a decrease in the number of temporary workers in Montreal and Laval would also be considered. Information confirmed to Le Devoir. On January 1st last, the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec stood at 616,552, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada.

The implementation of this reform will involve consulting experts. They will be consulted next fall, as part of the multi-year immigration planning process, a process provided for in the law. In October, the Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, had already hinted at the color by mentioning scenarios of downward targets. Furthermore, the government has already planned to reduce by decree the number of foreign students. They too are part of the broad category of temporary immigrants. It will welcome about 32,000 fewer students in 2025 than in 2024, it is specified.

While the government is reviewing its immigration policy, the Institut du Québec, in a report published on Wednesday, argued for an increase in thresholds to 90,000. "This increase would allow more temporary immigrants to obtain permanent status, so that the thresholds could then be gradually reduced," the institute estimates.