How to Check an Immigration Consultant Is Licensed

Who can legally charge for immigration advice

Only a small group of people can legally charge a fee for Canadian immigration advice. They are lawyers and paralegals in good standing with a provincial or territorial law society, and notaries with the Chambre des notaires du Québec. Consultants in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants can also charge a fee. Paralegals are authorized for this work in Ontario only.

It is an offence for someone to provide Canadian immigration advice for a fee or other consideration without belonging to one of those bodies. Any payment or other benefit given in exchange for the advice makes the person providing it a paid representative, whatever it is called.

If an applicant uses a paid representative who is not authorized, IRCC may return or refuse the application connected to that advice. The authorization of the representative can affect the outcome of the paperwork they helped prepare.

What does RCIC-IRB mean?

RCIC-IRB is a licence class showing that a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant is also qualified to represent clients before the Immigration and Refugee Board. Not every RCIC holds this qualification.

The College's Public Register lists licence classes in its Type column. Classes L1 and L2 have the full scope of practice for immigration matters generally. Class L3, shown as RCIC-IRB, can also represent clients before the IRB. Classes L4 and L5 are student immigration advisers with a narrower scope.

A Class L2 consultant cannot practise before the IRB unless they are also a paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. Checking the Type column shows whether a particular consultant's licence covers IRB representation at all.

How to check if an immigration consultant is licensed

The College's Public Register is searched by name, and the result that matters most is a single column. On that register, only consultants with an Active status and a Yes in the Entitled to Practise column can legally provide immigration advice or services.

A licensee can appear on the register without being entitled to practise right now. Those on a leave of absence, resigned, under administrative or disciplinary suspension or revocation, or deceased cannot provide services. Their record still exists on the register even so.

1. 1

   The name is searched

   A consultant's name is entered on the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants' Public Register.

2. 2

   The status is checked

   The register shows whether the licensee's status is Active, or another status such as suspended or resigned that cannot practise.

3. 3

   Entitled to Practise is checked

   Only a Yes in the Entitled to Practise column means the licensee can legally provide paid immigration advice.

4. 4

   The licence class is checked

   For representation before the IRB, the Type column shows whether the licence is Class L3, RCIC-IRB, which carries that scope.

Is hiring a representative required?

No. Hiring a representative is optional. Every form and instruction needed for an immigration or refugee application is available free on IRCC's own website. A person can complete and submit an application without paying anyone.

Using a paid representative does not draw special attention to an application, and it does not mean the application is approved. The role of an authorized representative is to help prepare and submit an application correctly, not to influence how it is decided.

Protecting yourself when working with a representative

A paid representative should provide a written contract listing the services covered and the fee charged, along with signed receipts for any payments made. These records give a person something to point to if a dispute arises later.

Original documents should not be left with a representative, and blank or unread forms should not be signed. Reading a form before signing it is a plain way to know what is actually being submitted.

Recognizing immigration consultant fraud

IRCC will never call and ask for money to be deposited into a personal bank account or sent through a private money transfer company. Its own fees are set in Canadian dollars and are the same wherever an applicant is in the world.

A request that does not match those patterns, whether it comes from someone claiming to be with IRCC or from a paid representative, is worth treating with caution. The guide to making a refugee claim in Canada and the guide to a refused visitor visa cover other points in the process where fraud can arise. Icefield Immigration's consultation page has more on working with an authorized representative.