MIFI Starts To Process Suspended CAQ Applications Again

The ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) of Canada gave a ministerial order to suspend the processing of applications submitted by international students under the Quebec Acceptance Certificate or CAQ if they belonged to any of the ten private colleges that were being investigated. However, MIFI has now decided to continue processing the CAQ applications of these students.

Decision to suspend

MIFI had previously announced that it was suspending the processing of CAQ applications of these international students in the public interest. The Ministry of Higher Education was auditing the ten educational institutions and MIFI did not want to process the applications submitted by students enrolled in these DLIs until April 1, 2021.

However, the decision has been reversed now after legal proceedings. Some of the DLIs who were affected by the announcement, namely CDI, Canada College, and the Montréal Campus of Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, decided to appeal to the Quebec Superior Court. They were successful in their attempt and managed to get injunctions against this new policy.

Injunction

On January 11, 2021, the Superior Court passed a verdict that while the Ministry has the right to mistrust the DLIs they cannot jeopardize the lives of the students who have planned to study in Quebec in these institutions. Any individual who wants to study in Quebec must secure a CAQ alongside the study permit. The court ordered MIFI to process the applications again.

This means that the affected students will no longer have to give up on their course for the winter. They can pursue their plans regardless.