Immigration Representatives

In accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) , the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada ( CIC) only recognizes representatives who are members of

1. a Canadian provincial or territorial law society,
2. the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) or
3. the Chambre des Notaires du Québec.

No other representative may involve in an application or proceeding, be it inland or overseas, before the Minister or an officer, or before the Immigration Refugee Board (IRB).

Who Does This Affect

It affects individuals, whether in Canada or abroad, seeking to hire a representative with regard to their immigration application or status.

You are not obliged to hire a representative for immigration matters. The Government of Canada treats everyone equally, whether they use the services of a representative or not. If you choose to hire a representative, your application will not be given special attention nor can you expect faster processing or a more favorable outcome.

Mandate

An independent, federally incorporated not-for-profit body operating at arms length from the federal government, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) is responsible for regulating the activities of immigration consultants who are members and who provide immigration advice. In addition, the Society is responsible for ensuring the education and competency testing of its members.

History

In 2002, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) created an Advisory Committee to identify the various problems within the immigration consulting industry. The committee's jobs were to report back and propose recommendations on how to regulate and improve the industry.

The need for regulation stemmed from a number of factors. For many years, there were no set standards for the levels of education, the quality of services, or the professional accountability necessary to offer one's services as an immigration consultant. This lead to confusion among the immigrant and refugee communities.

For example, many did not understand the differences between a lawyer, an immigration consultant and a non-governmental organization and were unfamiliar with Canada 's official languages and immigration laws. Even the filling out of forms was an intimidating task.

The committee found that some consultants were indeed unscrupulous, holding themselves out as experts on the subject of immigration despite the fact that they had little or no training or experience. There was also a concern that this was just the tip of the iceberg – because many victims were either afraid to complain or resided outside of Canada .

As well, there was no formal complaints process established to deal with those consultants who abused the trust of their clients and therefore tarnished the industry as a whole.

These findings, coupled with the Committee's recommendations, eventually resulted in the creation of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) - an independent and self-regulating body for immigration consultants who are members and who charge a fee for their services.

The Government of Canada amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations as of April 13, 2004 so that all practicing immigration consultants in Canada will need to be members in good standing with either 1) a Canadian provincial or territorial law society , 2) the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) or 3) the Chambre des Notaires du Québec, in order to participate in new matters before the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).