The Agri-Food Immigration Pilot Programme will continue, and IRCC has announced that it will remove the yearly occupational cap for programme participants. IRCC extends Agri-Food Immigration Pilot.
According to Sean Fraser, minister of immigration, the Agri-Food Pilot Programme will now last until May 14, 2025. The goal of the pilot was to make it easier for skilled workers in the agricultural and food industries to get permanent residency in Canada.
Additionally, the Minister declared the removal of the yearly occupational caps. Removing these restrictions, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), will provide more qualified applicants a chance to apply. By the year’s end, IRCC will also implement more adjustments. The agency will gradually implement further modifications to the pilot, including:
- Increasing open work permit access to family members of the pilot program participants regardless of the candidate’s job skill level;
- Giving unions the ability to vouch for a candidate’s work experience as an alternative to employer reference letters;
- Applicants residing in Canada will be given the option to either meet the job offer requirement, which includes the median wage requirement for the offer or they may meet the education requirement (including an educational credential assessment verification); and
- The pilot will start accepting work experience obtained under an open work permit for vulnerable workers. IRCC says this will give more workers an opportunity to qualify.
In order to address employment shortages in the meat processing, mushroom and greenhouse production, and livestock-raising industries, Canada’s Agri-Food Immigration Pilot was established in 2020.
At the time of the announcement, IRCC stated that for the ensuing three years, it would accept up to 2,750 principal candidates and their family members per year.
On May 14, 2023, the application window for the pilot was scheduled to close.
More than 243,000 Canadians are working in the agriculture, hunting, fishing, and forestry sector, according to recent statistics on job openings from February 2023, while there are more than 14,000 open positions. The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to factory closures, market volatility, and supply chain delays, had a significant negative impact on the sector.
What occupations are eligible for the program?
Meat product manufacturing;
- Retail butchers
- Industrial butchers
- Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
- Food processing labourers
Greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, including mushroom production;
- Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
- General farm workers
- Harvesting labourers.
Animal production excluding aquaculture:
- Farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
- General farm workers.
Candidate eligibility
Candidates for the program must also meet additional eligibility requirements such as:
- 12 months of full-time, non-seasonal Canadian work experience in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in one of the eligible occupations;
- a Canadian Language Benchmark level 4 in English or French;
- the foreign equivalent of a high school level education or greater; and
- an indeterminate job offer for full-time, non-seasonal work in Canada, outside of Quebec, at or above the prevailing wage.
Meat Processing Sector
A two-year Labour Market Impact Assessment will be provided to employers in the meat processing industry that choose to participate in the experiment. The plan must specify how the temporary foreign worker will be helped by the business to seek permanent residency.
According to the IRCC, in order to preserve the labour market and migrant workers, unionized meat processors must submit a letter of support from their union, and non-unionized meat processors must meet extra standards. IRCC extends Agri-Food Immigration Pilot.
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