Hire a temporary foreign worker through the Agricultural stream: Overview
1. Overview
The agricultural stream allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers when Canadians and permanent residents are not available.
To qualify for this stream, employers must meet 2 criteria:
- production must be in specific commodity sectors, and
- the activity must be related to on-farm primary agriculture
Note: Employers hiring temporary foreign workers under the agricultural stream in Quebec must consult the information provided by the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (French only). There are some variations to the requirements and the process that must be followed in this province.
Employers submitting an LMIA application for a low-wage position may request an employment duration of up to 2 years.
Employers submitting an LMIA application for a high-wage position may request an employment duration of up to 3 years. The employment duration must align with the employer’s reasonable employment needs.
National commodity list
- Apiary products
- Bovine
- Dairy
- Duck
- Flowers
- Fruits, vegetables (including canning/processing of these products if grown on the farm)
- Grains, oil seeds and seed corn
- Horse
- Maple syrup
- Mink
- Mushrooms
- Nursery-grown trees including Christmas trees, greenhouses/nurseries
- Pedigreed canola seed
- Poultry
- Sheep
- Sod
- Swine
- Tobacco