Two months into the reopening of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ), applications surpassed the government’s forecast for the entire four-month period.

On Oct. 16, 2026, the government published an access to information request revealing that Quebec received 12,364 applications across July and August 2026.

At a June 10 press conference, Quebec’s Immigration Minister François Bonnardel estimated that between 8,000 and 12,000 people would apply under the PEQ by Oct. 31, the deadline for temporary foreign workers and Quebec graduates to submit applications during the program’s first intake period.

No future intake periods have been announced, and the province plans to sunset the PEQ by July 2028.

The Parti Québécois, which has pledged to cut annual permanent resident admissions from 45,000 to 35,000, is set to form a minority government and name its cabinet on Oct. 21, 2026, following Quebec’s Oct. 5 election.

The PEQ is Quebec’s only pathway that allows qualifying foreign workers and international graduates to submit direct applications for permanent selection.

In a June 10, 2026 press release, the Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration (MIFI) announced the reopening of the PEQ, beginning with an intake window from July 2 to Oct. 31, 2026, for foreign nationals who met its criteria as of Nov. 19, 2025, when the program’s then-permanent closure took effect.

In the same press release, MIFI stated its intention to issue an equivalent number of Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQs) under the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) and PEQ over the remainder of its 2026–2029 immigration planning period, which ends on Dec. 31, 2029.

MIFI said in June 2026 that beginning in November 2026, after the first PEQ intake closes, it would adjust the number of PSTQ invitations based on the volume of PEQ applications received.

PSTQ applications at the end of August stood at 12,152.

The lion’s share of the 12,364 PEQ applications were received in July, with the student stream accounting for nearly two-thirds of applications:

PEQ stream	July	August
Quebec Graduates	6,861