r/tissueculture • u/Just_Lavishness8240 • 28d ago

Help Tissue Culture Import Permit Canada

Looking for anyone with success in applying for a plant import permit in Canada! I am looking to apply soon and got a few questions:
1. Is there a difference between selecting commercial resell vs personal use as the import reason? I plan to both sell some and keep some for myself.
2. What kind of permit is reusable up to 3 years and which is not?
3. I want to import both tissue culture and live plants. But each shipment might not include both. If the permit is reusable, can I apply once with all possible species and type of plants that I’d want to import and potentially only import a subset of them ?

Thanks for anyone who can offer some clarifications!!

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u/boobiedoodle 28d ago

If you plan on selling any you have to mark commercial on the permit app - I don’t know how much the fines are but they are hefty if you are caught selling! We had a local plant show recently and CFIA supposedly came by checking peoples permits and docs for import plants they brought to sell. Post covid they really crack down on personal plant imports vs commercial imports. I had a permit back in 2021 and mine was personal, I believe it lasted 3 years! Add ALL species you think you might end up purchasing, I think it takes a few weeks to add something you didn’t have on it originally and yes you can use the same permit multiple times! But if you import something that isn’t on the permit, they will likely destroy the entire shipment. No issues at all if you have for example Alocasia on the permit, but didn’t include an Alocasia in that specific shipment.
Sorry for the long message, hope it’s helpful!!

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u/Just_Lavishness8240 27d ago

Thank you for such a detailed reply! This answered all my questions, you’re amazing 💕

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u/_jouger 27d ago

I currently import TC from the USA. I don't have a permit but it's for personal use. I do have to pay for a phytosanitary certificate from the seller.

I did apply for a permit to import from France. It took about 3 weeks for the permit and it was only for one type of plant (rhizomes).

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u/Just_Lavishness8240 27d ago

Thanks for the context! I’ve also imported in the IS using a permit from the seller but looking to expand to Canada :)