How to immigrate to Canada with Agri-Food Immigration Pilot?
What is the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot?
The Agri-Food immigration pilot is a new immigration program launched by the Government of Canada to address labor shortages in the agriculture industry. The Canadian Government officially announced on Friday, July 12, 2019, that the previously declared pilot aimed to target vacant positions in the agriculture sector has started.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada launches such an industry-specific immigration stream for the first time. The pilot will take three years to target its goals. According to the Agri-food immigration pilot, during the application process of three years, 2,750 candidates and their family members will be accepted every year.
The new immigration pilot program will aim the agriculture and food industry work offering permanent residence for the candidates. This, in turn, is planned to cover the worker shortage in the agricultural field which is expected to rise to 114,000.
According to the Canada Immigration Ministry, the pilot could bring a total of 16,500 new permanent residents to Canada during the three years of the period. Agri-food immigration pilot is specially designed to meet labor needs in the meat processing and mushroom sector in Canada.
Agri-food sector employers, as a part of the new immigration pilot, will be eligible for a two-year LMIA. If you want to apply through the pilot as a temporary worker, you will be able doing so by making an application for the program starting from early 2020.
Which occupations are eligible?
- Meat processing
- Retail butcher
- Industrial butcher
- Food processing laborer
- Harvesting laborer for year-round mushroom production work and greenhouse crop production
- General farm worker for year-round mushroom, greenhouse crop production work, or as well as livestock raising
- Farm supervisor and specialized livestock worker for meat processing, year-round mushroom production, greenhouse crop work or livestock raising.
Agri-Food Immigration Pilot: what are the requirements?
- As a candidate, you need to have a minimum of one year of full-time, non-seasonal Canadian work experience in one of the eligible occupations in:
- Processing meat products
- Raising livestock work
- Growing mushrooms
- Greenhouse corps
- In addition, you must have language proficiency in the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level at 4 in either English or French.
- High-school or higher education
- Full-time, non-seasonal job offer in Canada at or above than the regular wage. The job offer must be outside of Quebec.
More information regarding the permanent resident procedure through agri-food immigration pilot will be announced in early 2020. In addition, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) said that it was going to introduce changes that would benefit employers supporting temporary foreign workers to transition to Canadian permanent residence.
ESDC is going to issue a two-year LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) to eligible employers, as well as employers who are using the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot. The meat processor employers, in turn, will be needed to come up with a plan to support their temporary workers to obtain Canadian permanent residency in order to become eligible for the pilot.
In addition, unionized meat processors have to provide a letter of support from their union. Meat processors in this category will also need to meet additional criteria to ensure that the labor market and migrant workers are protected. In order to develop these requirements, a tripartite working group is expected to be formed immediately.
Also, taking into account efforts by agriculture employers to help foreign workers to receive Canadian permanent residency, there will be adjustments for the limit on low-wage foreign workers is calculated.
This limit calculation may not be subjected to employers who have the previous history of hiring workers who have made the transition to permanent residence.
Agri-Food Immigration Pilot Update
Canada starts the program in March 2020
As previously announced in 2019, the main target of the Agri-Food immigration pilot is the meat-processing work, year-round mushroom, and greenhouse crop production work sectors.
Applicants need to have Canada work experience and a valid job offer from a Canadian employer to become eligible.
According to the announcement on the federal government website, starting from March 2020 all the other details required for the application, such as instruction guide and document checklist will be available.
Which sectors does the Agri-Food immigration pilot target?
Qualified industries for the pilot are classified in accordance with the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
- Meat processing manufacturing (NAICS 3116)
- Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture, including mushroom work (NAICS 1114)
- Animal production, excluding aquaculture (NAICS 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 or 1129)
Which jobs are qualified for the Agri-Food immigration pilot?
The qualified occupations for the pilot are displayed below:
1) Meat production (NAICS 3116)
NOC B 6331: Retail butchers
NOC C 9462: Industrial butchers
NOC B 8252: Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
NOC D 9617: Food processing laborers
2) Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture, including mushroom production job (NAICS 1114)
NOC B 8252: Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
NOC C 8431: General farmworkers
NOC D 8611: Harvesting laborers
3) Animal production job, excluding aquaculture (NAICS 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 or 1129)
NOC B 8252: Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
NOC C 8431: General farmworkers
In addition, every qualified occupation is limited by the annual application quota in the pilot.
Agri-Food Immigration Pilot Requirements
- Workers wishing to apply to the pilot are required to have non-seasonal Canadain work experience in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in one of the qualified jobs.
- Candidates also need to have relevant language skills in CLB level 4 either in English or French in all four abilities.
- High school education
- Full-time, a non-seasonal job offer in Canada outside of Quebec with a salary in accordance with or higher than regular wage in the province.
The following table also displays the required funds for agri-food immigration candidates and their dependents.
| Number of family members (including those you support who aren’t immigrating with you) | Funds you need |
| 1 | $12,960 |
| 2 | $16,135 |
| 3 | $19,836 |
| 4 | $24,083 |
| 5 | $27,315 |
| 6 | $30,806 |
| 7 | $34,299 |
| For each additional family member required | $3,492 |
Two-Year LMIA For Meat Processing Workers
The Employment and Social Development Canada is carrying out new incentives in order to complement the pilot. Thus, employers, who help temporary foreign workers in transitioning to Canadian permanent residence, will benefit from changes in LMIA processing.
Qualified meat processing companies will have a 2-years LMIA, including employers who utilize Agri-Food pilot to help temporary foreign workers to become permanent residents.
Please note that the pilot is not available in the province of Quebec. However, employers in Quebec, who recruit non-seasonal workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be eligible for a two-years LMIA as planned in the pilot.
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