And many elements of the reform of PEQ presented in May are disturbing, many players in the community are asking to go back on the changes imposed on vocational training.
In addition to having excluded training of less than 1800 hours from its new version, the former Minister of Immigration and reform pilot, Simon Jolin-Barrette, decreed that it will take 24 months of work experience to graduates before they can apply to PEQ. For college and university training, it will take two times less, or 12 months.
Éducation internationale, which represents Quebec’s professional training centers abroad, as well as the Federation of School Service Centers denounce a unfair treatment
.
Deadlines and obstacles to recruitment
On the next day of the cabinet reshuffle who saw Nadine Girault appointed Minister of Immigration, the two organizations wrote a letter to the department’s assistant deputy minister on June 23.
At the outset, it was stated that the extension of the work experience requested will be a brake on recruitment and retention since it will prolong the procedure for obtaining permanent residence. We believe that this requirement will increase the difficulties of recruiting companies for high demand resources.
, can we read in the document of which Radio-Canada obtained a copy.
Nadine Girault was appointed Minister of Immigration by François Legault. She succeeds Simon Jolin-Barrette, now Minister of Justice.
Photo: La Presse canadienne / Jacques Boissinot
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Generally presented as a fast route to permanent residence, the PEQ will be less attractive in this job category, according to these two organizations.
The candidate must first accumulate 24 months of work experience related to his training, provided that it is recognized. Once this is done, he can apply to the PEQ and request a Quebec Selection Certificate. With the reform of the PEQ, the processing time for this request, previously from a few weeks, will increase to six months. Then, the process to obtain permanent residence, according to Éducation internationale, takes at least 12 months.
Grand total: 42 months of process.
During this time, a college or university graduate will be able to start his process 12 months earlier, after having accumulated his work experience.
Étienne G. Juneau, Director General of International Education, called on the Immigration Department earlier this week.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Alexandre DUVAL
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Étienne G. Juneau, Director General of International Education, cannot easily explain these disparities. It’s totally unfair to vocational students
, he denounced in an interview with Radio-Canada.
For us, it is really essential that the government back down on this and that it standardize the situation for the three levels of education.
If the government does not back down, Éducation internationale claims at the very least a grandfather clause for students in vocational training already on Quebec soil at the time of the reform, and who hoped for faster processing.
Bureaucracy
What is more, he points out that the Canadian post-graduate work permit is for a period of 36 months. This means that to get to the end of the 42-month permanent residency process, a candidate will have to regularize their situation by other means.
The work permit will not be long enough to pass through all the stages
, explains Mr. Juneau. The latter agrees that there are alternatives, but regrets that the PEQ is not self-supporting
for vocational training candidates.
They will have to go through other programs, he says. The procedure involves soliciting your employer in addition to multiplying the forms.
We will have to take additional steps, which generates additional costs and additional uncertainty.
According to him, the situation is all the more difficult to explain
that despite his controversial list of professions, the first reform presented in the fall – then abandoned – gave pride of place to vocational training. The work experience requested after graduation was 12 months, and training of less than 1800 hours had been added to the eligibility list.
We welcomed the reform. There were issues with the list, but it was really a step in the right direction. Clearly, there has been a change of course in the past few months
, notes Étienne G. Juneau.
Denoting a contradiction, he recalled that the government itself, in his own documents
, recognizes that jobs in vocational and technical training will be in high demand.
Not yet in force
Presented on May 28, the new version of the PEQ has not yet entered into force, but should be in the near future. In the office of the new immigration minister, it was still said these days that Ms. Girault was working to integrate the thorny issue, less than a week after her appointment.
In the past month, various opinions from civil society or organizations have been sent to the government, which, it is said, will take the time to analyze them one by one. The Legault government does not rule out the possibility of making certain changes if it considers it necessary after consulting these notices.
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