Hi there, I am Harupaka. Today, I will write about the processing time for the French Course which is provided by the Quebec government. As you stepped by my article, you might be interested in taking those courses, or you are actually waiting for their response. Here, I am going to share actual time that I took so that you can plan what to do during waiting for it, etc.
As you might already know, the Quebec government offer new immigrant to Quebec free french courses and even financial assistance, too. That is so kind of them and so helpful to us, new immigrants. I believe there is no places that help new people that much. New immigrants like me whose first language is neither French nor English have language difficulties when it is about immigrate to Quebec since even English is hard to learn. I understand that it is challenging for you, so did I. Please refer to Learning French for more details for the courses. There are several types of courses with your needs.
What Do I Need to Apply to It?
To register on the waiting list, firstly you need to have SIN (Social Insurance Number). Once you receive a Work Permit, you can get one at the office of Service Canada. I received a notice of acceptance of Work Permit via e-mail on November 5th, but you need to wait until the paper delivers to you. You cannot go to Service Canada with notification of Acceptance of Work Permit. They will not accept a printed e-mail or screenshots to create your SIN. It took me a week to receive the actual Work Permit after that e-mail.
Once you received your actual Work Permit, you can go to Service Canada near to you to be created your SIN. You need to bring the actual Work Permit and Passport. Those are a must.
I Received My SIN, Then What?
Once you received your SIN, you can start an application to french corses by the Quebec government. You can create your account via Learning French. During the application, you need to fill out your basic information as your name, address, your SIN, etc., and also your French level. We will have an interview with the government to verify your level in French, so do not worry about it too much. Once you created your account via Learning French and fill out the information, you will receive messages to your account or e-mail that said you need to send them one of the copies of the following.
Once you copied one of the documents indicated above, you need to send it and the letter you received from the Quebec Government to the address mentioned. HOWEVER, that address was not correct. As I called the Quebec Immigration, the office was moved to another place. I was like “WHAT THE F!!! DO YOUR JOB! AMEND THE ADDRESS!” in my heart. Because I sent my documents by registered mail and I paid about 20$CA! But it was wrong????!!!! Why I realized it is because my tracking by Canada post said it has already delivered about a month ago but I received auto-email from the Quebec government that said they haven’t received my documents yet and they are still waiting for that.
So, I send it again to new address, and finally, I received auto-notification that they received my application.
What’s next?
So, after a month when I sent them papers, I finally received the response which said that I have an interview with the government of Quebec to see my level in French.
How was the interviews?
So, the interview day has come. I was arrived where the interview was took place about 30 minutes earlier than the meeting time, but it started right away which was good for me. The interview was about 20 minutes, I guess, and was like a conversation. The question would be different by the candidates, as he asked me why I am here in Quebec as a first question. You can tell a interviewer your purpose to your immigration to Quebec, but don’t worry, that is nothing to do with an immigration. It is just to see your level of French, how you create sentences in French. I advise you to not prepare for the interview. This interview is different from the exam or job interview, so it is better to show your exact level right now. So, do not worry about that too much!
| November 17, 2019 | Filled out my application on the internet |
| November 18, 2019 | Sent my documents via Canada Post |
| November 21, 2019 | Tracking shows it has delivered |
| December 3, 2019 | Received my first auto-email that said they still wait for my document |
| December 3, 2019 | Called the Quebec Government about my paper and the responce was just wait |
| December 15, 2019 | Received second auto-email that said they still wait for my document |
| December 16, 2019 | Called them and told the address was not good |
| December 16, 2019 | Sent my documents again to a new address |
| December 20, 2019 | Received auto-email that they received my documents |
| January 15, 2020 | Called them to know my status and told they will send me a letter this week |
| January 24, 2020 | Received a letter about an interview with the government |
| February 03, 2020 | Did an interview with someone in charge of the evaluation |
| February 10,2020 | Received phone call from Quebec Government! |
You can see your status on Francais au Quebec.gouv.qc.ca. Basically, those who respond to the immigration things on the phone are not good at customer services. I am sure that I can do 10 times better than them. They talk to me like they are angry. But don’t be so scared to call them even your English or French is not that good. You are doing well! Just let them slide. Maybe they had a bad day or they are not happy with their job or life. Anyway, I don’t care whether they are happy or not. Oh, it comes to my mind, through my experience here in Quebec, basically, customer service is not that good so don’t be expected so much. When you go to Metro station in Montreal or take a bus, some of the workers of STM is so kind, but most of them never smile, never say Hi to customers. So I recommend you to Not Expect That Much so that you can be calm and peaceful in your heart. If you see the NICE STM man or woman, you are lucky. It will be a good day like a fortune teller.
Thank you for reading. I hope it will help you to plan your life during waiting for a response from the government. I am going to update once I received another news on this page. I hope you have a great day ahead!!
