Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is set to announce reforms to the way Canadian immigration representatives are regulated in order to better protect prospective immigrants from unscrupulous ‘ghost’ consultants.
Current Canadian law only allows approved consultants and lawyers in good standing to represent individuals on their Canadian immigration applications for a fee. Unless the immigration representative is a member of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) or a member in good standing of a territorial or provincial law society, he or she may not charge applicants for assistance with their applications.
However, many would-be immigrants have been misled by individuals who are not members of any law society, or the CSIC, sometimes losing large amounts of money. These individuals are called ‘ghost’ consultants because their names do not appear as representatives on application forms.
In order to better protect prospective immigrants, the government will announce regulatory reforms in the coming weeks. They are expected to replace the CSIC with a governing body that is modelled after provincial and territorial law societies, with the power to investigate its members as well as more stringent membership rules.
You can verify Attorney David Cohen’s authority to represent you as a member in good standing of the Barreau du Quebec and the Canadian Bar Association here.