{"id":495,"date":"2026-05-08T05:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/immigration-le-retour-du-peq-entre-soulagement-et-incertitudes\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T05:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:07:51","slug":"immigration-le-retour-du-peq-entre-soulagement-et-incertitudes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/immigration-le-retour-du-peq-entre-soulagement-et-incertitudes\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration. The return of the PEQ, between relief and uncertainties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-87297 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/programme-de-lexperience-quebecoise-PEQ.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/programme-de-lexperience-quebecoise-PEQ.jpg 800w, https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/programme-de-lexperience-quebecoise-PEQ-768x419.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Highly anticipated after so much pressure from foreign students and temporary workers, the reopening of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) was announced on April 21, 2026 by the new Premier of Quebec, Christine Fr\u00e9chette. The new CAQ leader, who promised a more humane approach to immigration, entrusted Mr. Fran\u00e7ois Bonnardel, appointed Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, with the diligent task of reactivating the PEQ for a period of two years.<\/p>\n<p>Established to promote the lasting establishment of temporary workers and international graduate students in Quebec, the PEQ was one of the main routes to rapid access to permanent residence. Its official closure, on November 19, 2025, caused a strong outcry among aggrieved people, who denounced an injustice and an about-face by the government, calling into question their establishment plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>The return of the PEQ raises concerns<\/h2>\n<p>Certainly, the relaunch of this program has been widely welcomed by the population concerned and stakeholders in the immigration sector, but this enthusiasm remains marked by concerns regarding the concrete modalities of relaunching this program.<\/p><div id=\"linit-3959791113\" class=\"linit-dans-le-contenu linit-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-8992136571741975\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:inline-block;width:250px;height:250px;\" \ndata-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8992136571741975\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"1055921646\"><\/ins> \n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Concerning the eligibility criteria, the government is raising the possibility of a \u201cgrandfather clause\u201d, intended to favor people who were eligible before the closure of the program. But this approach could exclude certain candidates who acquired their eligibility after November 2025, thus creating new inequalities.<\/p>\n<p>It should be remembered that when it was created, the PEQ included two components: international graduate students from Quebec and temporary foreign workers. These two components were suspended before being abolished. However, the government has not yet indicated whether these two components will be restored or if the recovery is only partial.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the return of the PEQ once again raises the question of people who were forced to leave Quebec for lack of legal status, following the abolition of this program. Indeed, there is no guarantee that they will be able to benefit from this relaunch, which fuels a strong feeling of injustice among former candidates.<\/p>\n<p>Administratively, the challenge remains considerable. Quebec maintains its annual immigration thresholds, set at 45,000 new permanent residents for the period 2026-2029, including 29,000 from economic immigration. In such a context, competition to obtain a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) is likely to be strong, and processing times could lengthen, particularly due to coexistence with the Qualified Worker Selection Program (PSTQ).<\/p>\n<p>In short, even if the return of the PEQ constitutes a positive signal for thousands of temporary workers and foreign students, but without clear guidelines, the relaunch of this program risks reproducing the same uncertainties of recent years, fueling the concerns of candidates and employers. Indeed, the coherence of immigration policy remains in question. Between the recent closure of the PEQ, the implementation of the PSTQ, then the partial return of the program, the Quebec system gives an impression of instability which harms its predictability and its attractiveness internationally.<\/p>\n<p>Sofiane Idir<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"screen-reader-text\">Article navigation<\/h2>\n<div id=\"linit-941340130\" class=\"linit-apres-contenu linit-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-8992136571741975\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:inline-block;width:250px;height:250px;\" \ndata-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8992136571741975\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"1055921646\"><\/ins> \n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highly anticipated after so much pressure from foreign students and temporary workers, the reopening of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) was announced on April 21, 2026 by the new Premier of Quebec, Christine Fr\u00e9chette. The new CAQ leader, who promised a more humane approach to immigration, entrusted Mr. Fran\u00e7ois Bonnardel, appointed Minister of Immigration, Francisation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/programme-de-lexperience-quebecoise-PEQ.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Immigration. Le retour du PEQ, entre soulagement et incertitudes","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quebec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linitiative.ca\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}