Hire a temporary foreign agricultural worker

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

Hire a temporary foreign agricultural worker

You can hire a temporary foreign agricultural worker under one of the following streams:

Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program

• temporary foreign worker must be from Mexico or the participating Caribbean countries
• production must be included on the National Commodities List

Agricultural stream

• temporary foreign worker can be from any country
• production must be included on the National Commodities List

Stream for high-wage positions

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

Stream for low-wage positions

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

Related links

• Employer compliance
• Refusal to process a Labour Market Impact Assessment application
• Ineligible employers
• Service Standards