{"id":203687,"date":"2019-02-24T05:57:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T10:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=203687"},"modified":"2019-02-24T05:57:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T10:57:41","slug":"lawyers-group-seeks-to-delay-dismissal-of-18000-quebec-skilled-worker-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/24\/lawyers-group-seeks-to-delay-dismissal-of-18000-quebec-skilled-worker-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers\u2019 group seeks to delay dismissal of 18,000 Quebec Skilled Worker applications"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
A CSQ must be granted by the Government of Quebec before a\u00a0Quebec Skilled Worker Program\u00a0(QSWP) candidate can apply for Canadian permanent residence. (Pixabay Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An immigration lawyers\u2019 group is seeking a court order that would force Quebec\u2019s government to continue processing backlogged applications to the Quebec Skilled Worker Program.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The province\u2019s Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government\u00a0proposed terminating<\/a>\u00a0the backlog of around 18,000 pending applications in legislation tabled February 7.<\/p>\n

The legislation, known as Bill 9, said the termination order was to take effect immediately.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0injunction request<\/a>\u00a0filed Wednesday, the\u00a0Association qu\u00e9b\u00e9coise des avocats et avocates en droit de l\u2019immigration\u00a0(AQAADI) says the government\u2019s proposal is \u201ccompletely illegal\u201d and would have \u201cdevastating\u201d consequences for affected applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt destroys the ability of these individuals, many of whom are already well engaged in and at the final stage of the process of selection, to realize their plans for a new life in Canada,\u201d the request reads in French.<\/p>\n

The request argues that Quebec\u2019s Immigration Minister is required by law to issue decisions on the pending applications and does not have the discretionary authority to refuse to do so.<\/p>\n

AQAADI is asking Quebec\u2019s Superior Court to order the government to continue processing applications for a\u00a0Quebec Selection Certificate<\/a>\u00a0(CSQ) \u201cat the usual pace\u201d until the legislation is passed by Quebec\u2019s National Assembly.<\/p>\n

A CSQ must be granted by the Government of Quebec before a\u00a0Quebec Skilled Worker Program<\/a>\u00a0(QSWP) candidate can apply for Canadian permanent residence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith each passing day, dozens of applications for a CSQ that could have been processed are not,\u201d the request reads.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is clearly urgent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The request says each application potentially concerns not just the applicant, but their spouse and children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese 18,000 applications represent tens of thousands of individuals,\u201d the request reads.<\/p>\n

The AQAADI is expected to argue its case in court on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) government\u2019s proposal has been widely criticized as unfair given the length of time that many applicants have been waiting for a decision on their file and the fact thousands are already living and working or studying in Quebec as temporary residents.<\/p>\n

The government says affected applicants\u00a0will instead have to create a profile using the province\u2019s new online\u00a0Expression of Interest system<\/a>, which was introduced last August to manage the pool of candidates for the QSWP.<\/p>\n

The applications the government wants to terminate were submitted when the QSWP accepted paper-based applications on a first-come, first-served basis.<\/p>\n

When the proposed legislation was introduced, Quebec\u2019s Immigration Minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said the Expression of Interest system is a better fit for the CAQ government\u2019s efforts to tailor the selection of skilled workers to\u00a0labour shortages in regions around the province.<\/p>\n

When Bill 9 was introduced, Jolin-Barrette said dismissing the application backlog was necessary so the government could focus on selecting candidates in the Expression of Interest pool and reduce processing times from 36 months to six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a strong measure,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s\u00a0the only one capable of breaking a stalemate that we can no longer accept.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An immigration lawyers\u2019 group is seeking a court order that would force Quebec\u2019s government to continue processing backlogged applications to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":166615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}