Find a Canadian immigration consultant
When receive advice or consultation from a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, make sure you are working with someone in good standing who can legally provide you with such service.
You can check if a person is licensed to represent immigrants or to give advice.
- Citizenship or immigration consultants must be a member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.
- Lawyers need to be a member of Canadian provincial or territorial law society ; notaries needs to be a member of Chambre des notaires du Québec.
- Paralegals (Ontario only) must be members of the Law Society of Ontario.
Most law societies let you check online to see if a person is a member in good standing. If they are not members in good standing, you should not use their services.
Source: IRCC Canada
How to check if your consultant is reputable?
On Public Registry of the College of Immigration and Citizenship, you can check whether your immigration consultant is in good standing and can legally provide you with consulting service.
Check the column "Entitled to Practice" on the Public Register to know who can provide immigration advice or services. Only RCICs and RISIAs marked as "Yes" in that column can legally provide immigration advice or services. Any RCIC or RISIA marked as "No" under the "Entitled to Practice" will NOT be able to provide consultation or service. Only RCICs and RISIAs with status "Active" and marked "Yes" under the "Entitled to Practice" on Public Registry can legally provide consulting service.
Check and verify your immigration consultant's status
Step 1: Access the Public Registry . Here, you can find RCIC or RISIA that you wish to verify.
Step 2: Choose "Search for an RCIC or Search for a RISIA"
Step 3: Enter the information you need verify. For example College ID: R707018. Then press "Find."
*You don't need to fill out all the information fields to find the information you need. Check the column “Entitled to Practice” to verify the status of the immigration consultant. You can check the code circled red to know more about the type of license they hold.
Explain the different types of codes displayed
Active – Practice Restricted – A licensee who has had their practice restricted as part of an interim order or disciplinary finding made by the Discipline Committee. The specific restriction will be listed beside the status.
Licensees of the College hold different classes of license with varying scopes of practice. These are shown under the ‘Type’ column on the Public Register:
L1 – RCIC – Conditional Practice: new RCICs who have not yet completed the New-Licensee Mentoring Program in the first year since becoming licensed. These licensees can provide the same full scope of practice as L2 licensees.
Class L2 – RCIC – Restricted Practice: Licensees with this license have completed the New-Licensee Mentoring Program and can provide the full scope of practice, but they cannot practice before the IRB.
L3 – RCIC-IRB – Unrestricted Practice: Licensees with this license have the same full scope of practice of Class L2 – RCIC – Restricted Practice with the additional qualifications to represent clients before the IRB.
L4 – RISIA – Conditional Practice: RISIAs licensed prior to July 1, 2022, or have completed the New-Licensee Mentoring Program.
Class L5 – RISIA – Unrestricted Practice: RISIAs licensed prior to July 1, 2022, or have completed the New-Licensee Mentoring Program.