Quebec amending immigration regulation

Province changes rules around declaration of interest to settle in Quebec by foreign national

BY Jim Wilson 05 Sep. 2024

Quebec is amending the rules around a foreign national’s practice of profession in the province and the validity of their declaration of interest to settle in the province.

With recent changes to the regulations around immigration, a foreign national applying to come and practice their profession in Quebec must:

have authorization to practice their profession in Quebec
have training or a diploma subject to partial or complete recognition by the authority regulation of this profession in Quebec.

“For the purposes of this article, the profession of [a] foreign national is the one he designated as main profession in their declaration of interest. This article does not apply to the request of the foreign national who has already been selected as permanent [resident] within the framework of this program and which presents a request to add or remove a member from their family,” the Quebec government said in French.

Some provinces, including British Columbia and Alberta, have also made changes regarding rules towards foreign credential recognition in their respective provinces.

Also, the federal government previously announced it is investing up to $3.65 million in funding in the Yukon government to improve the integration of internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs) into the province’s labour market.

Validity of declaration of interest in Quebec

Also, under the new rules, a declaration of interest from a foreign national is valid from the date of its deposit by the minister of immigration in the bank of declarations of interest and becomes invalid from the earliest of the following dates:

When a foreign national accepts an invitation from the minister to submit a selection application
When a foreign national refuses an invitation of the minister to submit a request for selection and notifies him that he does not maintain his intention to settle in Quebec
30 days following the date of the invitation of the minister to submit a request for selection without the foreign national accepting or refusing it
When one's spouse or de facto partner accepts a invitation from the minister to submit a request for selection while their declarations of interest are linked
12 months following the date of its deposit in the bank of declarations of interest.

The declaration of interest of the invited foreign national to submit a selection request remains valid if the foreign national notifies the minister, before the deadline that he refuses the invitation, but that he maintains his intention to settle in Quebec, according to the provincial government.

These changes will take effect Nov. 29, 2024.

New provincial regulations under Saskatchewan’s The Immigration Services Act took effect Sept. 1. With these new regulations coming into force, Saskatchewan's immigration system will have the highest level of program integrity “and set a new standard in Canada," said Jeremy Harrison, minister of immigration and career training.