Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - February 2010
The Quebec government has just announced a new program that will expedite the permanent residency waiting time for foreign workers.
Quebec, like most other Canadian provinces is facing extreme worker shortages across many industries. With the new program, officials and employers are hoping to broaden the province’s appeal to foreign workers as well as boost its powers of foreign worker retention.
“It [the program] makes the process very easy to get a certificate of selection, which is the first document you need to become a permanent resident,” said Bernard de Jaham, vice-president of mobility for the group Montreal International, who helped announce the new program, along with Quebec Immigration and Cultural Communities Minister Yolande James.
Under the new program, the certificate of selection will no longer take months to obtain, but rather, a few weeks, if not days. To qualify, a foreign worker must have been employed in the province for at least one year, and must demonstrate an intermediate knowledge of the French language.
Quebec is currently experiencing heavy shortages in the fields of IT, skilled trades as well as managerial positions, among several others.
Source: Montreal Gazette
