The federal immigration department says it has boosted capacity at its visa application centres to prepare for an influx of workers, visitors and students who will soon be required to provide their fingerprints as part of their Canadian applications.

Starting Dec. 31, all foreign nationals who apply for a study, work or visitor visa to Canada from Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Asia Pacific will have to supply biometrics, including fingerprints and photos.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has said the new policy is designed to ensure a more efficient and secure immigration screening process.

However, Canadian farmers say they’re worried the new requirements will exacerbate the sector’s existing labour crunch because temporary foreign workers and seasonal agriculture workers could see their applications delayed.

More than 20,000 seasonal agriculture workers from Mexico and Caribbean countries came to Canada in 2006 to help plant, tend and harvest Canadian crops as part of the Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program.

While Jamaica has required biometrics since 2013, Mexico and other Caribbean countries have not, leaving farmers worried they may not have access to the workers they’ve asked for in time for planting.

In an email sent Thursday afternoon, IRCC said it was aware of the agriculture industry’s concerns and was working to head off potential problems.

The department said it recognizes “the importance of the SAWP program to Canada’s economy” and “is working closely with the Mexican ministry of labour, as well as key Caribbean countries, to help with the transition to the biometrics requirement.”

There are also a “number of measures in place to assist biometrics-required applicants, including SAWP participants,” officials said, adding the department is in close contact with its federal counterpart, Employment and Social Development Canada, the main overseer of the SAWP program.

“For example, applicants who have provided their fingerprints and photo in support of a past visitor visa, work or study-permit application will not need to give their biometrics again until the 10-year validity period ends, ” IRRC wrote, noting that most SAWP workers return to Canada year after year.

More visa application centres are also being opened, the immigration department said, including one slated for Barbados in 2019.

IRCC said it expects that by November 2019, there will be at least 157 visitor application centres in 105 countries.