Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller has announced that Ottawa will circumvent Quebec’s self-imposed cap on permanent residency (PR) applicants to expedite family reunification. This decision follows months of unsuccessful negotiations between Immigration Canada and Quebec to enhance the family reunification capacity, a cap Miller deems “artificially low.” Currently, Quebec maintains an annual cap of 10,000 applicants for family reunification, significantly below the actual demand. Miller has directed the federal immigration ministry to initiate processing all PR applications for family reunification from individuals who have received the necessary documents from the province of Quebec. As of January 31, 2024, this directive affects approximately 20,500 applications, signifying a decisive step by the Canadian government to address the backlog and facilitate the timely reunification of families.
