Best Canadian Immigration ways for French speakers

Canada has both French and English speakers. And as per the 2016 census, French is the mother tongue of nearly 21.4 percent of Canadian residents. The Canadian culture is observing a decline in francophone communities outside Quebec. Therefore, the Federal Government is putting several efforts to attract French-speaking immigrants to settle outside Quebec as well. Generally, it happens that foreign French-speakers prefer Quebec as their immigration destination. According to the data provided by Statistics Canada, around 80 percent of the people living in Quebec speak French and it is the only Canadian province with French as the official language. Thus, a large number of Francophone populations are settled in Quebec. The Government of Canada wants the French-speaking communities to spread across the entire country. For this purpose, the government set the target of welcoming 4.4 percent of French-speaking immigrants by 2023. The province of Quebec is excluded from this immigration target. So, this means that Canada is keen to increase the intake of Francophone immigrants in the other parts of the country. The IRCC is adopting new measures to achieve this immigration target. And the government has allocated additional funds for adequate settlement services for french-speaking new immigrants. Moreover, the immigration ministry has recently started giving more points to bilingual candidates in the Express Entry.

Immigration options for Francophones

Other than the province of Quebec, French-speaking immigrants are whole-heartedly welcomed in several popular provinces. IRCC provides various immigration pathways to Francophones:

International Mobility Program

Canada introduced a new work permit option to the International Mobility Program for candidates who can speak French. This category is known as Mobilite Francophone. Through this option, Canada wants to increase the hiring of bilingual or French workers in certain parts of the country. There is no requirement of an LMIA through this stream and the hiring process is also expedited.

Express Entry

French-speaking applicants are eligible to get extra points under the Express Entry Immigration System. They can apply for permanent residence through the three major immigration programs: Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Trades, and Federal Skilled Worker.

Provincial Nominee Program

Provincial governments in Canada manage their own immigration programs and some provinces have streams that are particularly created to attract French speakers. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program has a French-Speaking Skilled Worker immigration category for express entry candidates. Nova Scotia is another province that invites Francophones through the NSNP: Labor Market Priorities Stream.