Quebec to select over 9,000 candidates to legal emigration in 2005

The Province of Quebec, Canada, will select between 9,300 to 9,600 candidates to legal emigration from the North African region of the Maghreb in 2005, announced, in Montreal Wednesday, officials of the Quebec Ministry of Immigration.

The Canadian provinces eyes, through this measure, to compensate for its weak demographic growth, but also to perpetuate the French language in North America.

According to Quebec officials, candidacies submitted through an immigration consultant are not prioritised, and all candidacies are treated in the same way.

In order to eliminate the problem of long delays in dealing with candidacies, the government of Quebec decided last October, to deploy all necessary means to treat, within two months, some 19,000 pending files submitted by Maghreb candidates. The immigration ministry has also launched a website http://www.immigration-quebec.gouv.qc.ca/maghreb to ease visa obtaining procedures. The site enables candidates to have an assessment of their eligibility for the visa. It also allows the candidate to obtain the Certificat de sélection du Quebec (Quebec selection certificate), which is the preliminary step to request a visa of permanent resident.