The new immigration pilots will focus on pathways to employees in health, food processing, and tech industries.

On March 3, Quebec announced it will establish three new immigration pilots within the forthcoming weeks. Quebec starts 3 new immigration programs.

The Ministère de l’Immigration, p la Francisation et p l’Intégration (MIFI) is opening up the pilots for overseas nationals who work in the following three industries :

1. food processing;
2. health (orderlies); and
3. artificial intelligence, information technology and visual effects.

These pilots are expected to continue for a maximum of five decades . The target is to attract and retain immigrants whose abilities meet Quebec’s labor market requirements.

MIFI will trouble Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQ) to up to 550 principal applicants, annually, through every pilot. Applicants must work in qualified businesses so as to be chosen. This figure does not include families.

Eligibility requirements

You will have to show that you can financially provide for yourself and your family for at least three weeks.

These applications also require applicants to be at least 18 years old. Quebec starts 3 new immigration programs.

The majority of these stream require work experience in Quebec. If you’re applying for one of those streams, you must have obtained your work experience with legal status. You must have been paid and worked at least 30 hours per week.

Below are a few of the specific eligibility requirements of every new program.

Pilot program for food processing workers

This pilot program is right for overseas employees in the food processing industry. It is intended to assist Quebec companies retain their foreign labor force, and to remain competitive with other Canadian provinces.

The pilot will develop into effect on March 24.

To be able to get a CSQ below this program, you have to have the ability to communicate properly in French, have work experience in Quebec in an eligible job, and be operating in the province when you submit your application.

Some additional eligibility conditions include :

1. Maintain a high school diploma or professional research diploma in a program in Quebec;
2. have held an eligible full-time occupation for at least 24 months in an eligible sector in Quebec throughout the three years before the application ; and
3. demonstrate an understanding of oral at level 7, according to the Quebec scale of French proficiency levels for adult immigrants.

Eligible occupations include :

    • Industrial butcher, meat cutter, poultry preparer and related workers (NOC 9462);

    • Labourer in food and beverage processing (NOC 9617);

    • Labourer in fish and seafood processing (NOC 9618);

    • Specialized cleaner (NOC 6732);

    • Worker in fish and seafood processing plants (NOC 9463);

    • Agricultural worker, (NOC 8431) but only the job title “chicken picker;” and

    • Machine and industrial process operator in food and beverage processing (NOC 9461);

Pilot program for orderlies

This pilot accounts for temporary foreign workers who’ve functioned as orderlies in Quebec for a minimum of one year.

MIFI developed this program to reduce labor gaps within this sector, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

This plan will launch on March 31. There are two streams under this program: Work and Studies-work.

Work stream conditions :

    • Possess a diploma linked to working within an orderly, which you got following a one-year, fulltime research program that corresponds to a Quebec diploma of vocational studies; and

    • Have at least 24 weeks of job experience as an orderly through the 3 years preceding your application . At least 12 of those months should have been done in Quebec.

This program is specifically for individuals working as orderlies, as described under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 3413– Nurse aide, orderly and patient support associate.

In case you have worked in the health industry outside Quebec, then it has to be related to basic personal care so as to be considered eligible work experience. Quebec starts 3 new immigration programs

Work-study stream conditions

If you are submitting an application under the Work-study stream, you must meet the following eligibility criteria :

      • Have graduated with a Quebec diploma of vocational studies leading to the job of orderly during the 2 years prior to the date you submitted your program; and  

       • possess at least 12 weeks of job experience within an orderly in Quebec, obtained during the 2 years prior to the date of entry of your application, and after the completion date of your research program.

You also need to have successfully finished the Institutional and Home Care Assistance analysis application, and graduated with a secondary degree of vocational studies.

Pilot program for workers in artificial intelligence, information technology and visual effects

This pilot program is intended to attract highly skilled tech workers to establish their professions in Quebec. It is going to also facilitate the retention of international students who received a specialized graduate level from Quebec universities.

This pilot is scheduled to start on April 22.

There are two streams under this pilot: Artificial intelligence, and Information engineering and visual outcomes.

Under each flow there are two kinds of profiles: Francophone, and Francization. If you are chosen under the Francization profile, then you may automatically get enrolled with the Integration service for immigrants beneath Accompaniment Québec. This step is designed to help encourage your French learning.

Every calendar year, MIFI intends to select 275 Quebec graduates and temporary workers in the artificial intelligence industry, and 275 overseas workers in the information engineering and visual effects sector. These figures don’t include relatives.

Artificial intelligence stream conditions

It is possible to submit an application under the Artificial Intelligence flow as a foreign employee or as a Quebec grad.

As a foreign employee, you Require a diploma which corresponds to some Quebec bachelor’s degree and a few of these :

    • two years of skilled work experience over the five years preceding your application; or

    • a master’s or doctoral degree in the 12 months preceding your application.

Additionally, you need a full-time project offer, or be employed in the artificial intelligence industry.

If you’re a Quebec graduate, in addition to your job offer, you must have graduated from a college with a greater technical studies (DESS), master’s, or PhD through the 2 years preceding your application. DESS graduates need six months of work experience in the 12 weeks before the program date.

Information technologies and visual effects stream eligibility requirements

For this steam, you need to hold a diploma that corresponds to a Quebec diploma of college studies (technical training), or bachelor’s degree.

You have to be employed or have a job offer in Quebec, also have worked in an eligible full-time occupation for at least 24 weeks during the five years prior to the submission of your program.

To qualify, your job must correspond to one of the following jobs :

1. Information systems analyst and consultant (NOC 2171);
2. Graphic designer and illustrator, (NOC 5241) but only if your job is in the visual effects sector;
3. Computer and information systems manager (NOC 0213)
4. Software engineer and designer (NOC 2173)
5. Electrical and electronics engineer (NOC 2133)
6. Producer, director, choreographer and related occupations, (NOC 2133) but only if your job is in the visual effects sector;
7. Computer programmer and interactive media developer (NOC 2174)
8. Audio and video recording technician, (NOC 5225) but only if your job is in the visual effects sector;
9. Computer network technician (NOC 2281); or
10. Electrical and electronics engineering technologist and technician (NOC 2241).

ο Reference taken from CIC News