The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller, and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay announced that the first round of invitations through category-based selection in the Express Entry immigration process will occur this week.

The focus or category of this selection is agriculture and agri-food occupations.

The agriculture and agri-food sector includes agricultural service contractors, farm supervisors, and retail and wholesale butchers will help attract the skilled talent needed in the industry across the country.

“Our agriculture and agri-food sector is an important engine of economic growth and requires a skilled and reliable workforce to continue to feed our growing population. Canada’s Express Entry system is an important tool that attracts workers with the skills our world-class agricultural sector needs,” added Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Category-based selection is an immigration process announced in May designed to enhance Canada’s Express Entry process. It allows selection based on required skills and will allow Canada to issue invitations to apply to prospective permanent residents as long as they have specific skills, training, or language ability.

Category-based selection is designed to make Express Entry more adaptable to Canada’s changing economic and labour market needs.