Delays in the issuance of study permit | Stress, anxiety and uncertainty for French students

Two weeks before the school year, French students admitted to Quebec establishments are still waiting for their study permit. Delays, additional costs and uncertainty: anxiety rises as D -Day approaches.

For Amber Chesnel, 21, from Nantes, the last few weeks have been punctuated by the wait. On August 11, she was to arrive in Montreal to start a baccalaureate in psychology at the University of Montreal. Everything was ready: plane ticket, accommodation, suitcases. Except the essential: his study permit.

“I submitted my request in early June. At that time, the delays displayed were five weeks old. There, I arrive at nine weeks and I still have no answer, ”she says. She regularly consults the immigration site, refugees and citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Facebook groups of students. “I connect to my IRCC five account, six times a day. It is still quite scary. »»

Amber is far from being the only one in this situation. On social networks, testimonies are multiplying: French students admitted, tickets purchased, accommodation found … but no permit in hand.

To study in Quebec, a foreign student must first obtain a certificate of acceptance of Quebec (CAQ), issued by the Quebec Immigration Ministry. This document is then necessary to request a study permit from the Federal. It is this second step that blocks. IRCC’s deadlines, announced at five weeks at the start of the summer, went up to ten weeks. And several files already exceed this period.

Amber’s mother, Morgane Chesnel, says she tried everything: “We did the web form, we called the Paris Embassy. My daughter called the Montreal Federal Office. We have a friend in Canada who wrote to someone from the federal office, unanswered. I am also in contact with a deputy. »»

On August 11, she flew to Montreal… without her daughter.

Visitor status

Juliette Bluzat, 18, was to take off on July 25. Then on the 30. “We had to cancel the plane ticket squarely. Whenever you shift, it costs 200 euros more, ”she says. Registered at the Montreal Polytechnic School, she already has a furnished apartment awaiting her.

I am very stressed, very anxious. It makes me cry every day because I have the impression that my dream starts in smoke, quite simply.

Juliette Bluzat, French student registered in Polytechnique Montréal

Some have crossed the Atlantic … but with the bad status.

Charlotte Baqué de Sariac, 20, arrived with a visitor visa, for lack of response from IRCC. Her mother, Fanny Baqué de Sariac, specifies: “Subject to receiving her visa well before her return to school on August 25, she will have to come out of the territory, only by air, to iron the border and validate her study authorization … super costly and incredible. »»

Charlotte confirms: “It’s a lot of stress, an impression of living in uncertainty for almost two months. »»

In practice, even if she receives her permit in time, she will not be able to have him validated on the spot. He will have to leave Canada, take an international flight, and come back, so that the customs officer physically gives him the document. No internal procedure avoids this step.

“I would have chosen Japan”

Alice Lapleigne, 22, registered in HEC Montréal, filed her request 11 weeks ago. “My flight was on August 11 …” Her mother, Cécile Esteve, explains: “We were obliged to leave for Montreal without her when we had planned to accompany her in order to install her for a serene school year. »»

For Geoffrey Guerin, 23, and his four friends of Master 2 at the Montpellier Management University School, the concern is total. All must make a university exchange at McGill University at the end of August to validate their year.

“We are five French students in the same case, because we are five in the same class to do the same thing in McGill,” explains Geoffrey, registered in the Graduate Certificate in Business Management.

The plane ticket for Montreal is reserved for August 23, four days before the start of the lessons. McGill gave them until September 9 to present their study permit. “If we don’t have it by then, it’s over. I think we will be forced to redoubled, ”he fears.

Does he regret his choice? “If we had to redo everything, knowing the consequences, I think we would go elsewhere, admits the student. Last year, I went to New York and it went very well. I had the choice between Canada and Japan, I think I would have chosen Japan. »»

Lack of communication

All denounce the same problem: the absence of an interlocutor and the lack of transparency in the processing of files. “On Facebook, we see people who filed their request in early July and who have already received their license. And others, since May, who still have nothing, ”says Ambre Chesnel.

Asked about these delays, IRCC indicates that the deadlines vary “depending on the quality and speed of responses to information or biometric data requests, the ease of information verification and the complexity of the file”.

We add that “strong global demand, especially in the categories that exceed the expected targets, can lead to longer deadlines”.

While concern grows among students and their families, the University of Montreal (Udem) is reassuring.

“The situation is usual at this time of the year,” said, by email, Virginie Allard-Cameus, Managing Director of Udem International.

She explains that “the processing times for France tend to increase during the month of June”. Then, “these deadlines decreases around the last weeks of August, and the students, especially French, are starting to receive their study permit”. The university says hoping that “the same scenario will happen again this year”.

In the meantime, everyone is watching for the long -awaited notification. For some, she may come just in time for the start of the school year. For others, you will have to adapt.

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• 129 000

  Number of foreign students with a valid study permit in Quebec

  Source: Government of Quebec