Quebec proposes easing rules for immigrant engineers

The Quebec government has introduced legislation to make it easier for immigrants such as engineers to be able to practise their professions in Canada.
On Wednesday, May 10, the Charest Government introduced Bill 14 to the National Assembly to create three types of permits for immigrants:
– a 1-year restricted permit
– a permanent restricted permit
– a permit for immigrants who have already received a permit from a Canadian professional association outside Quebec.
The professional licensing associations, the Ordre des Ingenieurs du Quebec in the case of engineers, will still be in charge of determining how to apply the law and what restrictions will apply over where individuals are allowed to practise. The government’s goal is to encourage more professionals to find appropriate work and use their skills in their professional field while they are going through the formal accreditation process.
The province will still impose the French language requirement on those who apply to practise in the province.
As elsewhere in Canada, there are reportedly thousands of skilled professional-class immigrants in Quebec who have to do menial jobs such as pizza delivery and taxi driver because the formal process to become legally entitled to practice their professions is too long and cumbersome.