Agri-Food Pilot
For agricultural workers in Canada, the Agri-Food pilot program offers a route to permanent residence. Workers have had to rely on temporary, seasonal work permits to find employment in recent years due to manpower shortages in Canada's agriculture and agri-food industries. By providing a route to Canadian permanent residence, which would allow workers and their families to remain and work in Canada for as long as they like, the pilot program hopes to draw in and keep people.
There will be a yearly cap of 2,750 principal applicants and their families. This amounts to a potential 16,500 new permanent residents over the course of the pilot's three-year implementation.
A 2-year Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) will be available to agricultural employers who take part in the pilot.
To apply for permanent residence under the Agri-Food Pilot, the requirements are:
- eligible Canadian work experience in one or more of the eligible industries and occupations
- a full-time, non-seasonal job offer from a Canadian employer in one of the eligible industries and occupations (outside of Quebec)
- meet the language requirements
- meet or exceed the educational requirements
- have settlement funds (if applicable)
- to maintain temporary resident status (if already in Canada)
Eligible industries
Industries are classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
Your employer needs to include the industry code in your job offer.
Eligible industries under the pilot are:
- meat product manufacturing (NAICS 3116)
- greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, including mushroom production (NAICS 1114)
- animal production, excluding aquaculture
- cattle ranching and farming (NAICS 1121)
- hog and pig farming (NAICS 1122)
- poultry and egg production (NAICS 1123)
- sheep and goat farming (NAICS 1124)
- other animal production (NAICS 1129)
Eligible occupations:
Occupations are classified by the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code.
Eligible jobs for each eligible industry are listed below.
For meat product manufacturing (NAICS 3116), eligible jobs are
- NOC 63201 - Butchers - retail and wholesale
- NOC 65202 - Meat cutters and fishmongers - retail and wholesale
- NOC 94141 - Industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers
- NOC 82030 - Agricultural service contractors and farm supervisors
- NOC 84120 - Specialized livestock workers and farm machinery operators
- NOC 85100 - Livestock labourers
- NOC 95106 - Labourers in food and beverage processing
For greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, including mushroom production (NAICS 1114), eligible jobs are
- NOC 82030 - Agricultural service contractors and farm supervisors
- NOC 84120 - Specialized livestock workers and farm machinery operators
- NOC 85100 - Livestock labourers
- NOC 85101 - Harvesting labourers
For animal production, excluding aquaculture (NAICS 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 and 1129), eligible jobs are
- NOC 82030 - Agricultural service contractors and farm supervisors
- NOC 84120 - Specialized livestock workers and farm machinery operators
- NOC 85100 - Livestock labourers
- NOC 85101 - Harvesting labourers
Application limits by eligible occupation
There are annual limits on the number of applications that will be processed for each eligible occupation.
Starting on January 1 of each year, applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. This pilot will last for 3 years.
| Eligible occupation | Number of applications accepted per year |
| 50 |
| 1470 |
| 730 |
| 200 |
| 300 |