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A computer error caused file closure notices to be sent to 746 Skilled Worker Selection Program applicants Saturday, according to Quebec’s Immigration Ministry.
French national Arnaud Gauthier says he was shocked when he read an email from the ministry saying his immigration application had expired. Up until that moment, he had understood the deadline was still a month away.
“All this creates a source of anxiety that really isn’t necessary. We don’t even know if it’s a bug, there’s no communication,” he said Sunday.
The Skilled Worker Selection Program is intended for immigrants who want to settle permanently in the province. The ministry has since said it’s working to correct the affected files and is asking applicants to the province’s program to disregard the notices in the meantime.
Gauthier and his partner have a child on the way and are eyeing a house in the Côte-Nord. He says the situation has created a lot of emotional stress.
“We never know if we’ll be able to stay, what the future has in store for us,” he says. “It wasn’t easy going to work and just focus on the day when it’s our life in Quebec that’s in play.”
José Israël Salieron Maciel, from Mexico, says the fact the glitch happened over Thanksgiving weekend, with no way to contact the ministry until Tuesday, heightened his anxiety.
“It’s even more stressful because I’ve paid for a lawyer, I’ve paid to apply … it’s costly,” he said.
This long weekend, he says, has felt longer than usual — and not in a good way.
José Israël Salieron Maciel, who lives in Lévis, says the Ministry of Immigration should have made someone available over Thanksgiving weekend to explain the situation to affected applicants, given the stress and anxiety the situation caused. (Alexandre Painchaud/Radio-Canada)
He says he wishes government workers were more sensitive to the fact that, for many immigrants their application files act as an anchor in the face of an uncertain future.
Immigration lawyer Maxime Lapointe says several of his clients had received the notifications on Saturday.
“Somebody needs to be accountable for this,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Immigration wrote in a statement that it’s “sensitive to the concerns these communications may have raised.”
“The individuals concerned will receive a communication directly in their Arrima account, tailored to their specific situation.”
On Monday, the Arrima platform, used by the Quebec government to manage immigration applications, was temporarily closed while teams reactivated the applications that were erroneously deleted, the ministry said.
According to an Immigration Ministry press release sent on Monday, no personal information was compromised because of the computer glitch.
Affected applicants should have already received one correspondence regarding this process, according to the ministry. Another correspondence will be sent to the affected applicants once the fixes are in place, it says.
Finally, the ministry notice says none of the applicants will be penalized.
The platform has experienced IT glitches before. Last July, the reopening of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) was disrupted by a technical issue.
At the time, the Ministry of Immigration said the high volume of users had made accessing the platform more difficult.
Lapointe is calling on the new Parti Québécois government to resolve the platform’s known IT issues.
“The incoming government must treat immigrants with a bit more dignity,” he said.