Children Visitors

[tygrus]

I want to bring my brother in law from the philipines to work in my business. If successful, the immigration dept has told me we can also apply to bring his young family along as visitors. Can visitor children attend school while in Canada or can they at least take some sort of home school so they don't lose any time in school?

 

[Leon]

If he has a work permit, he should be able to bring his family and enroll his kids in school. If his work permit is for a skilled occupation, his wife can even apply for an open work permit based on his work permit.

Immigration still needs to believe that the family has strong ties to their homeland and will not overstay in Canada when their permits expire.

 

[tygrus]

Thanks for the info.

HRDC told me that sometimes things are different for non-skilled workers. Is this true?

This job is on my farm and I am the only person that can train him, so its technically non-skilled.

 

[Leon]

This is true. If he's low skilled, his wife does not qualify for an open work permit. They can still come if they are believed that they will not overstay, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/work/work-faq06.asp

I don't think the school would have a problem enrolling kids of somebody who is in Canada on a work permit. There are many families who come to Canada on work permits or study visas who enroll their kids in school. I did hear of one case where both parents had tourist status and were denied to enroll their kids.

 

[tygrus]

Just to clarify, my brother in law is not low skilled and has an engineering degree, unfortunately, the job I want him for (farm labor) is low skilled.

I don't know if they make considerations for that.

 

[Leon]

No, they don't make considerations for that. They go by the work permit. However, he would be able to apply for their permanent residency under the skilled worker program after he's been in Canada for a year.

 

[tygrus]

Leon, thanks for much for the info.

Do you have anything from the gov't website that discusses being able to apply for permanent residency once a worker is in Canada, even if he is starting out in a low or no skill job?

 

[job_seeker]

No, they don't make considerations for that. They go by the work permit. However, he would be able to apply for their permanent residency under the skilled worker program after he's been in Canada for a year.

Hi Leon,

Is it possible to change from a low skilled work program to a highly skilled program after working one year in Canada? Thanks.

 

[Leon]

An employer can at any time apply for your LMO for a new position, even if you haven't been in Canada for a year. If your LMO is denied, you stay in your low skilled job with your low skilled permit. If it accepted, you can apply for a new work permit for your skilled position. If it is granted, if it is with a different employer, you can no longer work for the old employer.

With a skilled work permit, you would have the option of applying for an open work permit for your spouse based on your work permit and after 2 years of working on a skilled permit, you can apply for your PR under Canadian experience class. You would also have more options to be sponsored for PR by your employer under PNP. There are some low skilled options under PNP in BC and AB but only for certain occupations and under certain conditions.

The skilled worker program on the other hand has nothing to do with skilled or low skilled work permits. That is a program to apply for your PR. You need to have 67 points and at least one year of continuous skilled work experience. You also need to meet the requirements for one of 3 categories, 1 is having an occupation on immigrations most wanted list, 2 is having an approved job offer (skilled) in Canada and 3 is having been working or studying in Canada for 12 or more months, not specified that this 12 months has to be skilled.

You can find links to all the immigration programs, including skilled worker at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp