Temporary Suspension of the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program
Last week, a number of decisions were published by Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, including the temporary suspension of the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP). The suspension will take effect from November 1, 2019, to July 1, 2020. The suspension means that no new QIIP applications can be submitted during this time. It does not, however, affect the processing of any applications that were already submitted. These applications will continue to be processed normally by both the Quebec and federal immigration authorities. The Government plans to take advantage of this time to review the Program to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the Province.
At the same time, the Government also made some amendments to Quebec’s Immigration Regulations. As of January 1, 2020, in order to be selected as an economic immigrant by the Province of Quebec, the applicant and dependent family members (18 and over) must obtain an attestation of learning about democratic values and the Quebec values expressed by the Charter of human rights and freedoms. There will be two ways to obtain this attestation – either passing the Government’s online exam on the subject matter or by participating in a specially-designed course. This new requirement will apply to all QIIP applicants who have not been selected as of the implementation date of January 1, 2020.