Hi, I've been married to my wife since march of 2007, and have known her for 5 years before that. We would like to get her into Canada. My current employer is willing to sponsor her for a work permit. She is considered an unskilled worker, but she does have quite a bit of work in customer services/call centers. Now, my employer is about to embark on a very large expansion and we can barely find the staff to fill the positions now so I'm pretty sure that the thing about having to prove you couldn't find a Canadian to fill the position will be skirted.

Here's where it gets a little tricky; My wife has a dependent child that will be coming with her, and we would like to get both of them into Canada before the school year starts. Her son is going into Grade 1 and has been diagnosed with Childhood Autism / Asperger Syndrome (If that matters).

So here are my questions:
Can someone sponsored for a work visa bring a child? Do young children require any sort of student visa or special paperwork to enter school? How long might the process take. Is there anything that I may be missing or should know?

Also I should mention that I've looked into sponsoring both of them under the family class visa's but I do not meet the income requirements.

What would be my best course of action?

Thanks in advance

-Ed Terry

Dependents can seek admission as temporary residents to accompany a foreign worker to Canada. The admissibility of such a dependent is governed by the provisions governing visitor admissibility. Depending on country of residence prior to the application, medical examinations may be required for the dependent as well as the foreign worker.

Young children will generally need to seek study permits when applying with a foreign worker outside of Canada. If in Canada, children under 20 can attend school without a work permit if a parent has a work permit.