The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program was established in 1974. It has proven to be a successful labour mobility program between Canada and Mexico; it is a model of international cooperation that has demonstrated the possibility to maintain an effective and regulated flow of migrant workers between the two countries.

The SAWP allows for the orderly entry of agricultural workers from the Caribbean and Mexico to meet the temporary/seasonal needs for labour in the agriculture sector when Canadian workers are not available. With the first version of the sceme introduced in 1966 between Canada and Jamaica, but since expanded to include Mexico and numermous other Carribean states, SAWP helps the horticultural segment in sourcing foreign workforce for labour-intensive and highly seasonal jobs with repeated tasks.

The program, administered jointly by Employment and Social Development Canada with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, is available to those who are at least 18 years of age, from one of the participating countries, qualify under the immigration laws and the sending country and agree to the employment contract. Those workers are eligible for the Canada Pension Plan and certain Employment Insurance benefits (excluding "special benefits" such as maternal, parental and compassionate care benefits). Workers are also subject to income tax laws.

Around 18,000 workers are employed annually under the SAWP, and the seasonal workforce has an extremely high retention rate, with 59% of SAWP workforce returning to their farms for between 5 - 15 years. Sixty-five per cent of SAWP-participating farmers expect an increase in their production in the next 2 to 3 years, if they have access to an adequate workforce.