Immigration to increase in 2025, potential decline in 2026

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “In 2018, immigrants, I said that we had to take fewer and take care of them. Then the PQ was against that. Now, they're rallying to us and all of a sudden, they're saying that we're changing our minds,” mocked Premier Legault.

Due to the unexpected popularity of one of its immigration programs, Quebec could admit a near-record number of new permanent residents next year. However, François Legault’s government is setting the table for a possible reduction in its thresholds starting in 2026.

Around 66,500: that’s the maximum threshold for new arrivals who could obtain permanent residency in Quebec territory next year, Minister Jean-François Roberge announced Thursday when he presented his 2025 Immigration Plan. That would be the second-highest total in Quebec’s history, behind the 2022 total — 68,722.

Quebec’s admission thresholds for 2025 were to be much lower, but the government must deal with the unanticipated popularity of a program that is supposed to allow temporary immigrants to access permanent residence.

Thus, after having removed last year the ceiling imposed on the “graduates” component of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ), Quebec will have to sell an inventory of between 13,500 and 15,000 immigrants in this category in the next twelve months. These will be added to the approximately 50,000 regular immigrants from economic, humanitarian (refugee) and family reunification programs.

In a press scrum on Thursday, Minister Roberge also confirmed that he would impose freezes on the PEQ “graduates” component and on the main economic immigration pathway, the Regular Skilled Worker Program (PRTQ), for the coming months.

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The first moratorium aims to put an end to the “continuous” accumulation of permanent residence applications from foreign students. The second opens the door to a potential reduction in the thresholds starting in 2026, which will be studied next spring.

“It is certain that, among the scenarios, I will ask for at least one reduction scenario. And I will also ask for a scenario in which the PEQ-Diplômé program is reintroduced among regular economic immigrants. But these are scenarios,” Roberge said on Thursday.

Read also

• Quebec puts two major immigration programs on hold
• PQ wants to reduce number of foreign students by 60%

The PQ gets in on the act

In the morning, the Parti Québécois (PQ) claimed responsibility for the CAQ government's new measures to reduce permanent immigration. “Frankly, that one is good!” replied Prime Minister François Legault.

In a press scrum in Quebec City on Thursday morning, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon praised the government’s “180 degrees” on immigration, which he said was strangely similar to the measures promised by his party earlier this week.

On Monday, the PQ leader had put forward a proposal for a moratorium preventing “until further notice” the selection of immigrants from the PRTQ. “Less than 48 hours after submitting our document on immigration, by some miracle the CAQ woke up and took up our proposal for a moratorium on economic immigration from outside Quebec,” he said on the X network after the government’s plan was revealed in the media.

On Thursday, Minister Roberge said he was insulted by the PQ leader’s comments. “The Parti Québécois taking credit for our immigration policies is in the top 3 ridiculous things I've heard. We've been working on this for weeks,” he thundered.

“In 2018, I said that we should take fewer immigrants and take care of them. Then the PQ was against that. Now, they're joining forces with us and all of a sudden, they're saying that we're changing our minds,” mocked Premier Legault.

“Nonsense,” according to MP Pascal Bérubé, who was part of the PQ team during the 2018 general election.

With Dave Noël and Marco Bélair-Cirino