IMMIGRATION REPRESENTATIVE

There are many individuals out there offering immigration advice however only some of them are authorized to do so. Make your research before putting your future into somebody’s hands. Hiring an unregulated and non-authorized representative could do much more harm than you might think. You might not be given another chance to do things and your doors to Canada can become closed forever.

Who is an authorized representative?

Only the following people are authorized to charge a fee, to represent or advise you in connection with a Canadian immigration proceeding or application:

Immigration Consultants who are members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC),lawyers and paralegals who are members in good standing of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, andNotaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will not deal with non-authorized Immigration representatives. As a result of hiring non-authorized immigration representative, your application may be significantly delayed, returned or even rejected.

Follow these simple steps when choosing your immigration representative to reduce your risk of refusal, be inadmissible to Canada for five years, becoming a victim of an immigration fraud and losing your money:

• Is your representative licensed? Whenever you hire a representative to communicate with IRCC, Canadian High Commission, Consulate General of Canada, Government of Canada, PNP office or Service Canada on your behalf, check his /her credentials by asking him/ her to provide you with his/ her membership number and verify his/ her good standing with the regulatory body.
• Ask the company who is authorized representatives in the company, check his/ her credentials and only take consultation / advice from him/her. Authorized representatives are only individuals not companies. Make sure you are taking advice of the expert authorized consultant not the company staff. You are paying immigration expert advice like doctor or lawyer who has expert knowledge, training and authorization to give you advice. You are not paying consultation fee for the doctor staff or lawyer staff. You are paying fee for expert advice and representation by authorized consultant. Take advice directly from expert authorized consultant not from company staff.
  
  If the company or person that you are about to hire does not provide you with this information, there is a high possibility that they are un-authorized representatives and you put yourself at risk of being scammed.
• Does your representative guarantee 100% success of your application without reviewing all details of your case? He/ she might not be honest with you and should not be trusted. Every single case is different and it is impossible to know your chances without thorough analysis.
• Does your representative ask you to pay a “sign-up fee” without telling you what exactly he/ she’ll do for you? Then he/ she will probably do nothing and you will never see your money again.
• Is his/ her fee much lower than the market price for that service? Be alert as there is probably a reason for this significant price difference – whether it is poor service or high hidden fees. You might initially save few thousand rupees but may end up paying double/triple the market price before the process is over.
• Does your immigration representative claim he/ she has “connections” to immigration officers that will guarantee the success of your application? You can be sure he/ she is lying to you.

You should always ask yourself “Does it sound too good to be true?” If the answer is YES, you should not take your chance and look elsewhere.