Canadian immigration law is complex, with a wide range of available visa and work permit programs available to prospective residents of Canada. Navigating the system and successfully choosing the most suitable program for your situation can be difficult, as can ensuring that you submit the right application and supporting information to Canadian authorities.
One way to ensure that you have the best possible chance of securing the right visa or work permit is to enlist the expert knowledge and extensive experience of a qualified immigration lawyer or agent.
How can a lawyer/agent help you reach your immigration goal?
Immigration and citizenship representatives can:
- explain and give advice on your immigration or citizenship options
- help you choose the immigration pathway that is right for you
- fill out and submit your immigration or citizenship application on your behalf
- communicate with Canadian authorities regarding your application when required
- represent you in an immigration or citizenship application or hearing
Find out if your lawyer/ agent is authorized to give migration assistance
In Canada, only people who are authorized by the government can provide immigration assistance as a paid service. You can check if a person is licensed to act as an immigration representative:
- Lawyers or notaries must be a member of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, or the Chambre des notaires du Québec.
- Paralegals (Ontario only) must be members of the Law Society of Upper Canada
If someone is not a member of one of these organisations and in good standing, you should not use their services.
File a complaint against a representative
If you need to file a complaint against someone representing you in a Canadian immigration or citizenship application, if they are authorized representatives you can complain via:
- for a citizenship or immigration consultant, the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (IRCC)
- for a lawyer or notary, the Canadian provincial or territorial law society or the Chambre des notaires du Québec (available in English and French)
- for paralegals (Ontario only), the Law Society of Upper Canada
If your complaint is about someone who works for an authorized representative, you should first raise your complaint with the person they work for. In the event that their employer does not sufficiently deal with your concerns, you can then complain to the governing group they belong to (see above).
Unauthorized representatives in Canada or abroad
The IRCC will only deal with complaints regarding their members, and not those about unaffiliated representatives who charge a fee but are not authorized.
If you have discovered that your immigration representative is not authorized, you should immediately consider enlisting the services of an alternative, registered representative.
If an unauthorized representative breaks the law while acting on your behalf, they could be charged under the laws of their resident country or under:
Please be aware that you are responsible for all the information in your immigration application, even if a representative completes it for you. It is against the law to give false or misleading information in your application. To do so may lead to your application being rejected.