Immigration Consultant, Yes or No?!

The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Agency (IRCC) was established in 1996 with the goal of realizing and overseeing immigrants, refugees, and general immigration affairs. The IRCC, along with other partner organizations, is responsible for screening potential Canadian permanent and temporary residents to protect the health, safety, and security of Canadians and for Newcomers to settle in this country without prejudice and considering the race and religious of immigrants. The goal of this institution is to create a sustainable economic program, strengthen the future social and economic prospects of the country. The organization with about 7,300 immigration staff, with the help of immigration laws and under supervision of the Minister of Immigration (Marco Mendocino), is responsible for reviewing various immigration files and programs for domestic and foreign countries, and finally approving or rejecting them so the best people would be selected. On the other hand, people interested in immigrating to Canada to be more successful in this process can get help from educated and experienced people in the field of immigration to review the documents to submit the best case to the IRCC And increase the chances of obtaining a visa. These people are called immigration lawyers or counselors.

 Immigration consultants with an education in immigration are allowed to represent clients in immigration law matters. As immigration matters are so extensive and it takes years to gain the knowledge needed to properly support the client, usually Immigration attorneys work closely together and share their experiences to provide the best service. Assessing clients' chances of obtaining a visa, assisting in selecting the best immigration methods due to the client's circumstances, correcting documents, and assisting clients in immigrating to Canada, such as family support (sponsor), permanent residence, work and study permits etc., are some of the Immigration consultants’ responsibilities.

 Lawyer or immigration counselor?

 Although both have similar tasks in the field of immigration, there are small differences between the performance of an immigration lawyer and an immigration counselor. Counselors are involved in preparing, reviewing forms, evaluating, being aware of minor differences between immigration programs and updates while an immigration lawyer usually spends most of his/her time in the courts and hearings. For this reason, many large Canadian immigration law firms usually hire experienced immigration counselors. Immigration consultants are more hired as a senior employee (rather than Lawyers). Throughout the immigration profession, both immigration counselors and attorneys, despite subtle differences in performance, have duties within the set of rules that they must abide by. Among them are people called "ghost counselors." (Not a counselor), and unfortunately, they operate illegally both in Canada and around the world without a license, and by not knowing enough, they greatly reduce the chances of immigration for those who have been deceived and may go further to prevent people from entering Canada for the rest of their lives.

 Postgraduate immigration counselors must obtain permission from the Canadian Immigration Regulatory Council to begin their work as a formal counselor. This allows clients to identify real counselors. With choosing a formal and legal counselor, they can safely start their immigration work. everyone can go to the official Canadian Immigration Counselors website and verify the immigration counselor's credentials by having their first name, last name, city of service or license number. The CIC (Canada Immigration Service) has a specific plan in place to prevent immigrants from being abused and to inform all immigrants and people interested in who they can turn to and where and to whom they report any violations. Any violation cases approved by this organization will cause different fines and penalties for immigration counselors. The ethical and professional codes introduced by this organization to protect people and customers against unprofessional, inefficient, or immoral immigration consultants and companies are under the supervision of this organization. For this reason, in 2018, for the first time, CIC made the grievance process available to the public for further investigation to increase the oversight of these organizations as much as possible. The context of professional misconduct is the inability to support the client, etc. This text can reach the ICCRC in two ways: The first method is that the complaint form on the online portal must be submitted by another member of the RCIC and the form send by email, a fax or specific address.

Email: cd-pd@iccrc-crcic.ca

Fax:1-877-315-9868

Address: 1002-5500 North services Road, Burlington, ON, Canada, L7L 6W6

It is also recommended that all documents and evidence assisting in proving the complaint send along with the complaint form. The second method is to have the official letter of a government, federal, police, or law firm that notifies that the RCIC has committed a violation. ICCRC will review all complaints against a RCIC member, and the complaint may be closed without further action or referred for further investigation. In any case, the complainant will receive confirmation and case number. The plaintiff will be notified. In the case of informal counselors, the complaint letter removed from the IRCC and referred to the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) for more investigation (Read more)