Agriculture sector employers can hire temporary foreign workers for a maximum period of 24 months under this stream. To qualify for this stream, employers must meet following 2 criteria:

Production must be in specific commodity sectors

Apiary products, fruits, vegetables (including canning/processing of these products if grown on the farm), mushrooms, flowers, nursery-grown trees including Christmas trees, greenhouses/nurseries, pedigreed canola seed, sod, tobacco, bovine, dairy, duck, horse, mink, poultry, sheep, swine.

The job activity must be related to on-farm primary agriculture

Primary agriculture is defined as work duties that must:

• Be performed within the boundaries of a farm, nursery, or greenhouse.
• Involve at least one activity, such as:
  
  • Operation of agricultural machinery
  • Boarding, care, breeding, sanitation, or other handling of animals, other than fish, for the purpose of obtaining raw animal products for market
  • Collection, handling and assessment of those raw products, or the planting, care, harvesting or preparation of crops, trees, sod, or other plants for market
• Be consistent with one of these National Occupational Classification codes: 0821, 0822, 8252, 8255, 8431, 8432, and 8611

Program Requirements

Transportation Cost

The employer is responsible for paying round-trip transportation cost to temporary foreign worker. This cost includes the temporary foreign worker’s transportation to and from their current country of residence. If the foreign worker is currently in Canada, the employer is also responsible for his/her transportation costs to and from their current location in Canada to the new work location in Canada.

Day-to-day transportation

Employers must provide to the TFWs, where required, no-cost transportation to and from the on-site/offsite housing location to the work location.

Housing

Employers must provide TFWs with adequate, suitable, and affordable housing. The housing can be either on-farm or off-site. Employers must ensure the occupancy of each accommodation location does not exceed the maximum occupancy permitted.

Housing Inspection

Employers are required to submit an inspection report confirming that on-farm/off-site house has been inspected by the appropriate provincial/territorial/municipal body or by an authorized private inspector with appropriate certification.

Health and Workplace Safety

The employer is required to provide private health insurance to temporary foreign worker until he/she is eligible for provincial health coverage. It an employer’s responsibility to register the temporary foreign worker with the provincial/territorial workplace safety board.

Employment contract

An employment contract must be prepared and signed by the employer and temporary foreign worker to ensure that all parties involved are aware of their rights and obligations. The temporary foreign worker must sign it before arriving in Canada.

Processing Fee

There is no LMIA processing fee to occupations related to primary agriculture and positions under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes 0821, 0822, 8252, 8255, 8431, 8432 and 8611.

Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program

Temporary foreign worker must be from Mexico or the participating Caribbean countries (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago) and duration of LMIA is for maximum period of 8 months.

Agricultural stream

Temporary foreign worker can be from any country and duration of LMIA is for maximum period of 2 years.

Stream for high-wage positions

Temporary foreign worker can be hired for any high-wage agricultural position if production is not included on the National Commodities List

Stream for low-wage positions

Temporary foreign worker can be hired for a low-wage agricultural position if production is not included on the National Commodities List

How GSP Immigration Can Help ?