Quarantine for foreign agricultural, food, and seafood workers who are not fully vaccinated

All temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in the agricultural, food, and seafood sectors arriving to work in B.C. who are not fully vaccinated must quarantine for 14 days. Employers are required to provide adequate quarantine accommodations, food and support.

Last updated: April 14, 2022

On this page:

• Temporary foreign worker quarantine
• Screening process on arrival
• Employer responsibilities
• Federal government resources

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Temporary foreign worker quarantine

A 14-day quarantine period is required in employer-provider accommodations for all foreign nationals who are not fully vaccinated and arriving to B.C. to work on a temporary basis.

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Screening process on arrival

Air travellers whose final destination is Canada must submit their information through the ArriveCAN app before they board their flight. This includes:

• Travel and contact information
• Quarantine plan
• COVID-19 symptom self-assessment
• Negative pre-departure COVID-19 test results

Travellers are required to show their ArriveCAN receipt when entering Canada.

All partially vaccinated or unvaccinated travellers will have to submit to a Day 1 swab for COVID-19 testing and be given an at-home test kit to self-administer on Day 8. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the Day 8 test is completed and sent for processing. Fully vaccinated travellers may be randomly selected for a Day 1 swab.

Any traveller who is observed to have COVID-19 symptoms upon arrival, depending on the severity of their condition, may be placed in quarantine by the Public Health Agency of Canada at the point of entry or be sent to the hospital.

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Employer responsibilities

Quarantine period

During the quarantine period, employers are responsible for providing unvaccinated or partially vaccinated TFWs required to quarantine with:

• Adequate quarantine accommodations
• Drinkable water
• Regular and nutritious meals
• Any required medication
• A method of communicating with the outside world
• Wages for a minimum of 30 hours per week
• Daily health checks
• A safe means of accessing health care if the TFW develops symptoms or health issues while in quarantine

Ensure a safe workplace

All agricultural, food, and seafood workplaces in B.C., including those that employ TFWs, must follow the Ministry of Health's requirements to protect themselves and their workers, including having a communicable disease plan in place as required.

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Federal government resources