Posted: Apr 30, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: May 1
Gitika Sharma, 19, and her parents are waiting for news in India. Sharma says she’s spent six months waiting on the government to issue her a permit to study at a Montreal College. She says friends who applied after her have already received theirs.(Submitted by Gitika Sharma)
Applications for the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ or Quebec Experience Program) can be submitted online as of January 12 through the Arrima platform.
PEQ Applicants can therefore submit their application, pay the required fees and download the required documents through the platform.
Quebec has previously informed applicants that paper-based submissions may be used until January 25, 2021. After that date, it will be mandatory to submit all PEQ applications through an online process and the Quebec Ministry of Immigration will no longer accept any paper applications.
This is not the only program that will undergo this change.
While applicants to the Quebec Foreign Student Program have now been able to submit their applications through the platform since the spring of 2020, they will also be subject to the same mandatory online submission process as of January 26, 2021.
Quebec is increasing its immigration processing fees effective January 1, 2021.
These increases take place each year and are based on the annual change in the average all-items consumer price index.
The following fee increases are effective on January 1, 2021, in Quebec:
The fee for principal applicants who are applying as skilled workers has increased from $812 to $822;
The fee for each family member accompanying the principal applicant has increased from $174 to $176;
The fees for validating a permanent job offer or assessing its effects on the Quebec labour market have increased from $202 to $205;
Fees for principal business immigration applicants, which includes Quebec investors, Quebec entrepreneurs and Quebec self-employed workers, have increased from $15,763 to $15,962 and from $1,099 to $1,113 respectively for the last two categories;