The Agri-Food Immigration Pilot Programme will keep running, and IRCC has confirmed that it will remove the yearly occupational cap for program members.
According to Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, the Agri-Food Pilot Programme will now operate through May 14, 2025. The purpose of the initiation of the pilot was to make it easier for skilled individuals in the food and agricultural sector to migrate to Canada permanently.
Additionally, the Minister declared the removal of the yearly occupational caps. Removing these restrictions, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), will allow more qualified applicants a chance to apply. By the year’s end, IRCC will also implement further modifications. The agency will gradually implement more changes to the pilot, including:
- Granting family members of pilot program participants access to open work permits irrespective of their degree of job expertise;
- Allowing unions to serve as a replacement for employer recommendations by attesting to a candidate’s work history;
- Candidates living in Canada will have the choice of meeting either the job offer criteria, which entails the offer’s median salary demand, or the academic criterion such as verification of their educational credentials; and
- A susceptible worker’s open work permit will start to be approved for the pilot project. More employees will have the possibility to qualify, according to IRCC.
The establishment of Canada’s Agri-Food Immigration Pilot took place in 2020. Its goal was to address employment shortages in the meat processing, mushroom and greenhouse production, and livestock-raising industries.
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. On the other hand, 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.
Which professions fall under the program’s eligibility?
These professions and industries fall under the pilot’s eligibility:
Production of meat items;
- Wholesale butchers
- Commercial butchers
- Agricultural managers and skilled livestock workers
- The workforce in the food industry
Manufacturing of greenhouse plants, nurseries, and flowers, including mushrooms;
- Agricultural managers and skilled livestock workers
- Farm laborers in general
- Workers in the harvest.
Production of animals other than for aquaculture:
- Agricultural managers and skilled livestock workers
- Farm laborers in total.
Criteria for candidates
Candidates must also fulfill specific eligibility criteria, including:
- 1 year of continuous, full-time employment in one of the permitted professions under the Temporary Foreign Worker Programme;
- Proficiency in English or French at Canadian Language Benchmark level 4, the foreign counterpart of a high school diploma or above;
- An unspecified job offer at or above the going rate for full-time, year-round labor in Canada except for Quebec.
Department of the meat industry
There will be an issuance of a two-year Labor Market Impact Assessment to employers in the meat processing industry that choose to participate in the research project. The strategy must describe how the firm will help the temporary foreign worker get permanent status.
According to the IRCC, in order to preserve the labor market and migrant workers, unionized meat processors must submit a letter of support from their union. Furthermore, non-unionized meat processors must meet extra standards.