Many foreign farm workers have arrived.   Ottawa—The federal government has changed its rules temporarily to help foreign workers already in Canada stay here after their original visa expires, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino has announced. A foreign worker who is already in Canada and has secured a new job offer can get approval in about a week to start working while their work permit application is being fully processed, he said. Many temporary foreign workers lost their jobs this spring and were unable to return home because of international travel restrictions. Under existing rules, to change jobs they need to apply and wait for a new work permit to be issued before starting to work at their new job, a process that can take up to 10 weeks. With sectors such as agrifood and health care facing an urgent need for additional labour, the government decided to make the change its rules for now, Mendicino said. “Immigrants, temporary foreign workers and international students are making considerable contributions to Canada's response to the unprecedented challenge that COVID-19 poses,” he said. The new policy “will allow Canadian businesses to recruit the workers they need and help unemployed workers contribute to the Canadian economy during this pandemic.” Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst, Executive Director of the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council, said, “Efforts to streamline the complex system of accessing and securing TFWs is important, especially for an industry that is producing food for Canadians. Throughout the COVID pandemic, food producers have continued to struggle with workforce shortages. “Temporary foreign workers are a critically important part of Canada's food system and any efforts to improve efficiency for securing their participation will help ensure fruit, vegetables and meat are locally grown and available to Canadians,” she said. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the temporary policy will help “ensure our agriculture sector, particularly our horticultural producers, can count on their workforce and that they can ensure their safety.” Canada worked closely with Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala, where most seasonal farm workers come from, to ensure as many of them as possible could come for this year despite the pandemic, she said. To the end of April, about 22,000 agricultural workers in Canada had arrived compared to about 25,500 at the end of April, 2019, she said. More are expected this month. Government departments have worked to simplify the process for securing foreign workers and for workers already in the country to take a job with another employer. “We know that the horticulture sector also needs to be reassured in terms of labour, so we are trying to find solutions directly with labour, so working extremely hard to have the temporary foreign workers coming.” Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.