While most of Quebec’s children get ready to head back to school this week, others will be forced to stay home because of their immigration status.

As many as several thousand unlanded immigrants are not eligible to attend free public school in Quebec.

Sara, a mother of three, said she brought her family to Canada from Algeria three years ago. Still waiting for her landed immigrant status to come through, her children were forced to stay at home.

“My children were never accepted into school,” she said. “I was told I would have to pay and I don’t have $20,000.”

While Sara has finally received her paperwork, she wasn’t alone in her battle, said Education Across Borders spokesperson Steve Baird.

“Some people have been here for three, four, five years and for one reason or another, they have a visitor visa temporarily or they have a series of visitors visas while they’re waiting to get another status,” he said. “But it doesn’t give them access to free schooling.”

Baird said the number of non-landed immigrants who are ineligible for public school can be estimated at between “a few hundred to a few thousand children who are just not in school at all.”

The families would have to pay $5,500 to $7,000 to send each child to a public school.

“The right to education is something that tends to be guaranteed in most countries,” said Baird. “There’s almost nowhere in Europe, in the States also, where kids can’t access school regardless of their immigration status. In Canada, it’s somewhat exceptional, it depends on the province and the situation of the kids, but there’s a lot of people that are unable to go to school.”

While the National Assembly has debated a bill that would have addressed the issue, it was dropped in the spring. Baird said he hopes to see new legislation in the fall.

“Hopefully, this will be the year when it gets solved for all kids,” he said. “Not just some of them and not others.”

A spokesperson for Quebec’s education minister said that as far they know, most of the current cases have been dealt with but declines to elaborate. They added that public consultations on Quebec education are planned for the fall.