The coronavirus pandemic has caused a drastic decrease in Quebec’s immigrant admissions and the province is now looking for ways to improve the immigration results.

In 2020, Quebec admitted just over 25,000 permanent residents. This decrease is largely due to travel restrictions imposed by the federal government which have made immigration to the country more difficult.

Nadine Girault, Quebec Immigration Minister at a virtual conference on Thursday said that the province is planning to fill a deficit of nearly 17,000 to 18,000 people. She also stated that the province is exploring “different scenarios”.

 Jean Boulet, province’s labour minister said that immigration is “a necessity” and the province needs to speed up the flow of immigrant workers.

Boulet also stated that his government would review certain immigration rules to assist in the ongoing labour shortage.

He made clear comments about temporary immigration, which is a major focus of the new Quebec government.

According to Radio-Canada, the minister also stated that he has reached an agreement in principle to increase the existing 10% foreign worker threshold for businesses to 20%, as well as proposals to expand and streamline processes for hiring temporary foreign workers.

According to reports, Quebec and the federal government are currently discussing over the temporary foreign worker and permanent immigration programs.

Quebec revealed its immigration goals for 2021 in late October 2020. The province plans to accept between 43,000 and 44,500 immigrants in the coming year.

62% of the new immigrants to Quebec is predicted to come from the province’s economic immigration programs.