Overview:

Skilled individuals that have experience working on a farm have the ability to come to Canada either through investment or through a Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

TFWP is a program that facilitates work permits for skilled foreign nationals as a result of a valid job offer from a Canadian employer and a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) letter that the employer must obtain before the foreign national can apply for a work permit.

Programs through investment are outlined on our page named Farm Investors.

Employer Criteria:

Before submitting an application for an LMIA, employers must actively advertise for a position for 14 days on applicable sources on-line or by way of physical advertisements in newspapers and such. Employers must agree to pay for the round-trip transportation costs of relocating the foreign national to Canada and back to their home country at the end of their employment period if necessary.

Employers must also provide suitable and affordable housing as defined by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The housing can be either on-farm (for example bunkhouse) or off-site (for example commercial establishment), and can deduct a maximum of $30 per week from the foreign national’s wage.

Foreign national is not required to stay in the housing provided by the employer, this detail can be discussed depending on preferences of the foreign national and the employer.

Employers must pay for the foreign national’s private health insurance until they are eligible for the provincial/territorial health insurance. Employers must ensure to have eligible coverage from workplace safety insurance providers where required by law and provide workers with eligible tools to protect them against pesticides and any other chemicals used on site.

Job Offer Criteria:

Primary activity of employment must be related to on-farm primary agriculture which is defined as:

  • performed within the boundaries of a farm, nursery or greenhouse.
  • involving 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.
  • being consistent with one of these National Occupational Classification codes: 0821, 0822, 8252, 8255, 8431, 8432, and 8611.
  • offering minimum wage rates as established based on the occupation.

In addition, production of goods and services must be in one of the following national 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
  • seed corn
  • grains
  • oil seeds
  • maple syrup
  • sod
  • tobacco
  • bovine
  • dairy
  • duck
  • horse
  • mink
  • poultry
  • sheep
  • swine

Employee Criteria:

During the LMIA process, application will be focused mainly on the employer: assessing whether the request for a foreign worker is reasonable and whether the employer is in a capacity to support the foreign worker’s wages.

The employee is responsible to ensure that they meet employment and education requirements per National Occupational Classification code associated with the job offer along with the employer’s requirements associated with the job.

Employer Responsibilities:

As an employer, it is expected that the following conditions are acknowledged and maintained in order to stay compliant with ESDC:

  • Acknowledging the employee’s work permit and knowing its expiry date;
  • Meet the conditions listed on the work permit such as:
    • Job location.
    • Length of time they can work in Canada.
    • Title/Occupation and performed duties.
  • Set up medical insurance and workers’ compensation benefits for when they arrive in Canada:
    • as required by the province or territory, and
    • as listed in the offer of employment.
  • Be active in the business that submitted the offer of employment for as long as the work permit is valid;
  • Meet all applicable federal, provincial and territorial employment and recruiting laws;
  • Make sure the workplace is free of physical, sexual, psychological and financial abuse;
  • In the event the employer is selected for a random inspection, both the employer and the employee must show up for any inspections to answer questions and hand over requested documents or information.
  • Be able to show that the information submitted on the offer of employment was accurate, and that the employer provided the temporary worker with the same conditions as outlined in the offer of employment (contract).

More details on employer compliance is summarized on this page.

At UL Lawyers, we work with employers and employees equally to assist both parties in granting a work permit to the foreign national and successfully bring them to Canada. For eligibility and other questions about the process, we invite you to contact us so that we can assess and analyze the merits of your application for immigration. At UL Lawyers, for all immigration matters, we offer free consultation for the first 15 minutes and in the event our law firm is retained, we will credit the consultation fee towards your legal fees. For more information, you can contact us via telephone or WhatsApp at 1-905-744-8888 or email us at info@ullaw.ca. We look forward to assisting you with your immigration matter.