Comparison of immigration consulting fees

[chilkootcee]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Canadian with lots of friends overseas who want to come to Canada and I'm so tired and upset at hearing their stories about immigration consultants charging large sums of money to create an express entry profile when their likelihood of getting an ITA is low etc.

I created this thread for people to share their experiences with immigration consultants, with the hopes that people won't be ripped off or at least can negotiate with good understanding. IN PARTICULAR, PLEASE SHARE THE FEE STRUCTURE THAT CONSULTANTS HAVE CHARGED OR SHARED WITH YOU.

I think people are paying more money overseas for consultants than they would by hiring someone from Canada (I don't work for any immigration consulting companies...I sponsored my husband a few years ago without hiring a consultant so I'm familiar with family class...and I was also involved in sponsoring a refugee family.) but I'm not sure...anyways, by sharing the fee structures that we have been charged or quoted, it will help others to know what is reasonable. If you can provided details on the services / deliverables for those fees - even better.

In your replies, feel free to copy / paste / combine the statements below in your responses). Or simply state your own. You don't need to name the company you are working with (unless you feel it's important to share)

Also, it would be good to know if the consultant you hired is directly registered with ICCRC

Based on my experience, here are some key tasks / deliverables that consultants should provide (or not as indicated):

1) initial assessment for determining eligibility to immigrate to Canada under economic stream and various options - immigration consultants should do this for FREE

if you want to do an initial calculation of your points...here is an example of one of many free calculators offered by various companies https://www.canadavisa.com/comprehensive-ranking-score-calculator.html

PLEASE NOTE: if your scores are low (i.e. less than the lowest cut-off for the year) you need to find ways to increase them (not easy - language, schooling, work in Canada)...

2) Creation of express entry profile (requires obtaining IELTS (language testing), WES (education assessment) and accurate determination of NOC) - you should not need to hire an immigration consultant to do this. If you have the basic documentation ready, I understand the actual creation of a profile takes about 30 min!!!

2.5) Creation of a thorough and accurate profile in the Canada Job Bank (express entry candidates are eligible to submit a job seeker profile...but the matching algorithm is poor so you need to keep checking the postings for a potential match). A detailed profile may result in employers asking you to apply for a job however...and if you can get a qualified job offer, your points go up!

3) researching and reviewing various provincial nomination programs, assessing client eligibility, assisting clients in gathering required documents for applying to provincial programs (work experience letters, forms, etc), notifying clients of applications being opened, assisting / applying for PNP on clients behalf, responding to expressions of interest from PNP (where they use the federal express entry database) - this can get complicated perhaps...and maybe worth hiring a consultant for..

4) assisting client in preparing documents needed to submit PR application once ITA is received - there are clear instructions on the GC (government of Canada website) but if you don't want to do the research yourself, many hire consultants

6) assisting clients in completing and submitting PR application once ITA is received

7) assisting clients by following up on the PR application status, preparing and submitting any additional documentation required



Thank you for helping others

 

[chilkootcee]

So, I will reply with the first answer:

Friend of mine in Dubai, hired someone who apparently is not directly registered with ICCRC, but had an affiliation with someone who was (shady). They were asked to pay 2500 AED up front (I assuming for helping to prepare documents / create an express entry profile) and upon receiving ITA will pay an additional 2500 AED with this amount being fully refundable if their PR application is refused.

I helped her do an initial CRS calculation and if she has the highest English level language, her score would be 425.

Her likelihood of receiving an ITA is low...meaning the immigration consultant is basically just taking the initial 2500 for doing pretty much nothing.

What about your experience?

 

[chilkootcee]

And here is another answer:

in 2014 I inquired about hiring an immigration consultant with a prominent immigration law firm in Canada. The fee structure was as follows:

500 + 995 + 500 = 1995 CAD

In the end, I ended up deciding to go through the process without a consultant. I went through my emails to determine what the three main stages were related to the 3 fees above but couldn't find those details.

Still I assume that the 500 in today's world would related to the creation of EE profile, job bank profile and hopefully PNP applications? maybe not..

but 500 CAD is still MUCH MUCH cheaper than the 2500 AED (almost 1300 USD) my friend above was charged.

What is your consultant's fee structure?

 

[honestbud]

Hi. I want to know if it is legal to charge people for doing one or all of these without being a registered IRCC lawyer?

1) initial assessment for determining eligibility to immigrate to Canada under economic stream and various options - immigration consultants should do this for FREE

if you want to do an initial calculation of your points...here is an example of one of many free calculators offered by various companies https://www.canadavisa.com/comprehensive-ranking-score-calculator.html

PLEASE NOTE: if your scores are low (i.e. less than the lowest cut-off for the year) you need to find ways to increase them (not easy - language, schooling, work in Canada)...

2) Creation of express entry profile (requires obtaining IELTS (language testing), WES (education assessment) and accurate determination of NOC) - you should not need to hire an immigration consultant to do this. If you have the basic documentation ready, I understand the actual creation of a profile takes about 30 min!!!

2.5) Creation of a thorough and accurate profile in the Canada Job Bank (express entry candidates are eligible to submit a job seeker profile...but the matching algorithm is poor so you need to keep checking the postings for a potential match). A detailed profile may result in employers asking you to apply for a job however...and if you can get a qualified job offer, your points go up!

3) researching and reviewing various provincial nomination programs, assessing client eligibility, assisting clients in gathering required documents for applying to provincial programs (work experience letters, forms, etc), notifying clients of applications being opened, assisting / applying for PNP on clients behalf, responding to expressions of interest from PNP (where they use the federal express entry database) - this can get complicated perhaps...and maybe worth hiring a consultant for..

4) assisting client in preparing documents needed to submit PR application once ITA is received - there are clear instructions on the GC (government of Canada website) but if you don't want to do the research yourself, many hire consultants

6) assisting clients in completing and submitting PR application once ITA is received

7) assisting clients by following up on the PR application status, preparing and submitting any additional documentation required

 

[pizzaboy99]

Hi. I want to know if it is legal to charge people for doing one or all of these without being a registered IRCC lawyer?

Not legal in Canada. For other countries, yes as Canadian law doesn't apply to them.

 

[tobs]

nice thread

 

[navinball]

The trick these guys use is the eligibility score which pretty much everyone gets a 67 atleast. They will say 'congratulations you are eligible for PR' and take your money. Once they get your money they will come out with the crs score.

 

[jaffaral]

In UAE consultants are trying to suck the blood out of u

The total fee can go up to 4000 CAD. And the one who does paper work is not even an ICCRC consultant. He may be an associate but if u are paying that much better have an ICCRC consultant doing all the paper work

 

[jaffaral]

I remember I once attended a free seminar for express entry in uae and the guy was telling lie and I corrected him on multiple occasions and he got frustrated and removed me from the room

 

[navinball]

I remember I once attended a free seminar for express entry in uae and the guy was telling lie and I corrected him on multiple occasions and he got frustrated and removed me from the room

Lol most of these consultants I spoke to don't know that there other ECA organizations outside of WES.

 

[dodogirl]

Some charge around 2000 usd just to create the profile. When you receive ITA, you need to pay more for them to submit the application.

 

[cansha]

It may sound like victim bashing but I think onus is also on the person paying these consultants. Canada process is relatively simpler process and surprisingly well documented one at that. I had looked at Australian process and I was lost ... And probably would have needed a consultant for that (Although many of my friends did even the Australian process themselves). But Canada process is very straightforward. So one should not need a consultant in the first place. And even if you take services of a consultant since you have less time there is no excuse if you have not educated yourself about CRS score and cut offs which are available with a simple google search.

Bottom line is if you have not done due diligence ... blame can't be put squarely on the consultants.

 

[pizzaboy99]

It may sound like victim bashing but I think onus is also on the person paying these consultants. Canada process is relatively simpler process and surprisingly well documented one at that. I had looked at Australian process and I was lost ... And probably would have needed a consultant for that (Although many of my friends did even the Australian process themselves). But Canada process is very straightforward. So one should not need a consultant in the first place. And even if you take services of a consultant since you have less time there is no excuse if you have not educated yourself about CRS score and cut offs which are available with a simple google search.

Bottom line is if you have not done due diligence ... blame can't be put squarely on the consultants.

Just like you found the Australian PR process overwhelming while your friends did not, many people find the Canadian PR process overwhelming while you do not. There is no arbitrary point at which something becomes simple and something becomes complicated, it all depends on the individual. Some people have the personality to do months of research diving deep into immigration judicial review cases whereas others struggle to do even basic Google searches.

 

[cansha]

Just like you found the Australian PR process overwhelming while your friends did not, many people find the Canadian PR process overwhelming while you do not. There is no arbitrary point at which something becomes simple and something becomes complicated, it all depends on the individual. Some people have the personality to do months of research diving deep into immigration judicial review cases whereas others struggle to do even basic Google searches.

I did find it overwhelming but I still did my research and gave up because I find Canada one simpler. If I had decided to go with Australia process I would have done my research and talked to consultants and seen their BS. And if I hadn't done that and gave my money to a consultant I won't blame the consultant but me.

 

[pizzaboy99]

I did find it overwhelming but I still did my research and gave up because I find Canada one simpler. If I had decided to go with Australia process I would have done my research and talked to consultants and seen their BS. And if I hadn't done that and gave my money to a consultant I won't blame the consultant but me.

As I said, you are assuming that everyone is exactly like you in terms of intellectual ability, background, ability to spot BS etc and setting that as an arbitrary reference level, with anyone being worse than you in these areas is to be blamed.

For example, someone with a Hindi medium school background is obviously going to struggle to understand the process (as its not written in Hindi) and also he won't have the same critical ability to evaluate consultants that you have. You can't expect him to be at the same level as you.