Agri-Food Pilot: Closed Since May 14, 2025 (What to Do Instead)

IRCC's official page states: "The Agri-Food Pilot ended on May 14, 2025. We'll continue to process applications we accepted before this date." No new applications are accepted.

If you applied before May 14, 2025, your application is still valid. In 2026, IRCC named the Agri-Food Pilot among the programs whose pending applications it is accelerating under the one-time In-Canada Workers Initiative, which focuses on workers who have lived in smaller communities for 2 years or more. IRCC says applicants do not need to take any action for this.

Check your application status in your IRCC account and see the IRCC processing times tool.

The pilot started in 2020 to help workers already in Canada's agri-food sector become permanent residents. It targeted non-seasonal, year-round jobs, not seasonal harvest work. Eligible industries included:

• Meat product manufacturing (for example, retail and industrial butchers and food processing laborers).
• Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production, including mushroom production.
• Animal production (livestock raising), excluding aquaculture.

In general, applicants needed Canadian work experience in an eligible job, a full-time non-seasonal job offer outside Quebec, basic English or French, and a high school level education. The rules changed several times during the pilot, so if you applied, rely on the version that applied on your application date.

Family members

If your spouse or children were included in your pending application, they are processed with you. If they are in Canada, keep their status valid too. Family members outside Canada must still complete medical exams and background checks.

• Keep your status valid. If your work permit is expiring, apply to extend it before it runs out. See extend your status and maintained status.
• Respond quickly to any IRCC request for documents, medical exams, or biometrics.
• Keep working in line with your permit conditions.
• Tell IRCC about changes, such as a new address, marriage, or a new child.

If you received a refusal or a procedural fairness letter, talk to a lawyer or licensed consultant (RCIC) quickly; deadlines are short.

If you work in agriculture or food processing and want permanent residence now, look at these open options:

For temporary work, the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and LMIA work permits remain the main routes. The federal government has also said it is developing a sector-specific work permit stream for agriculture and fish processing; details were not final as of September 2026.

Agri-food employers who relied on the pilot can support workers through the RCIP, AIP, or provincial employer streams. See hiring agricultural workers from abroad and PNP employer streams.

Some agents still advertise the Agri-Food Pilot as open. It is not. No one can submit a new Agri-Food Pilot application after May 14, 2025. Never pay for a farm job offer or an LMIA. See scam protection and how to verify a lawyer or consultant.