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Agri-Food Immigration Pilot

Agricultural and food processing industries represent a significant portion of the Canadian economy. In 2017, the agri-food sector had $110 billion in domestic sales and almost $65 billion in exports. The target is to grow around 30% by 2025.

Temporary foreign workers play an essential role in the agricultural sector. According to Canadian industry statistics, foreign nationals filled almost 55,000 jobs in the primary agriculture sector in 2018, most of them working in greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production.

If you worked or still work in Canada in the agri-food sector and intend to become a Canadian permanent resident, the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot may be an option for you.

The Pilot is a pathway for those with qualified work experience to get Canadian permanent residency.

Eligible applicants:

  • Workers in the following industries:
    • Meat product manufacturing,
    • Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production, including mushroom production, and
    • Animal production, excluding aquaculture
  • With at least 1 year of non-seasonal, full-time, paid work experience in the past three years.
  • Who has worked under a work permit issued through LMIA with a minimum 12-month duration, even in different eligible occupations and with different employers?
  • Who has a full-time, paid, non-seasonal, permanent job offer from an employer in Canada. The job offer must be in one of the eligible occupations and the wage must meet or exceed the job bank’s prevailing wage in the province of employment.
  • Who meets the minimum language criteria for English or French: CLB/NCLC level 4 in all skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening).
  • Who has a Canadian high school diploma or equivalent if a secondary school credential was obtained overseas?

Eligible occupations

For meat product manufacturing:

  • Retail butchers (NOC 6331)
  • Industrial butchers (NOC 9462)
  • Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers (NOC 8252)
  • Food processing laborers (NOC 9617)

For greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, including mushroom production:

  • Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers (NOC 8252)
  • General farm workers (NOC 8431)
  • Harvesting labourers (NOC 8611)

For animal production, excluding aquaculture:

  • Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers (NOC 8252)
  • General farm workers (NOC 8431)

The Pilot will run for three years as of May 2020 and has a limited number of applications accepted per year.