Jun 23, 2024
Checking if the Consultant is Legit
Disclaimer: I'll be giving some examples in this post/guide. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. The intention is for educational purposes only and nothing more intended.
You shouldn't just trust anyone you met in the internet. You also shouldn't just believe anything you read in the internet. In fact, you should NOT even trust me. Best way to learn about any topic about migrating to Canada is from the official website of the Government of Canada.
Now if you think you can trust me, or even if you still can't, I believe you'd still learn a thing or two from this guide. So let's go ahead and try to understand who to trust or not.
Below is how you can check if your representative is authorized and licensed to give you immigration advice.
- Citizenship or immigration consultants must be a member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.
- 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 Ontario
If they are not members in good standing, you should not use their services.
If you didn't understand that, below is a clearer instruction on how to check.
Dapat daw, member and with good standing sila ng Law Society listed below. Since there's more than one Law Society, you need to ask your consultant kung saan sila member, or most of the time, it's mentioned na sa email nila kung saan sila naka based as per sample below.
Best Regards,
Inel Esor
Cadreamer Immigration Consulting RCIC: R0535
30 Random St Address Vancouver V6B1E8
CADreamer: https://www.ph2canada.com/
Cell: 123-456-7891
Email: inel@cadreamer.com
I'll say it again to make it clear, above is only a sample. Gawa gawa ko lang yan!
And now in our sample, makikita nyo na Vancouver address nila. Which means sa British Columbia province. If you're not familiar or not sure, you can google the address.
Now choose from the list below which province is your consultant is based. In our sample, we'll choose British Columbia.
Law societies in each province and territory
- Law Society of British Columbia
- Law Society of Alberta
- Law Society of Saskatchewan
- Law Society of Manitoba
- Law Society of Ontario
- Barreau du Québec
- Law Society of New Brunswick
- Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society
- Law Society of Prince Edward Island
- Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Law Society of Yukon
- Law Society of the Northwest Territories
- Law Society of Nunavut
Chambre des notaires du Québec (French only)
I won't go through each province because the procedures are similar in each province. Once you click on one of the links above, you'll land to a page similar to this below, where you'll need to put the consultant's details.
After clicking on "Search", you'll find a list of possible match. Look for the exact match, click on his/her name and you'll see details similar to below.
Now that you have their details, compare it with the details from their email. Make sure to check that they are also using the same email in communicating with you.
IF the email doesn't match, send an email directed to the registered email in the Lawyer Directory. Make it simple and just ask if you are communicating with a legit person under their company.
If you didn't find the consultant from the list, try to search them in the College of Immigration and Citizenship Website. If can find them there, then they are also legit
If you still can't find them in the list I've given above, you can also ask them directly. Why are they not registered? How can they prove that they are legit?
BUT if I were you, I wouldn't even waste time asking them. There's a lot of consultants to choose from and I wouldn't even want to listen to their excuses. Why risk it anyway? You can also ask in our group, if they have prefered consultant that they can recommend you.
BONUS TIP!!!
Even if the consultant is legit and licensed, there's something you need to learn before hiring them which we'll discuss in the next topic.
I hope you found valuable information in our website. I've been investing a lot of my time to create this website and help as much as I can.
I want to do this for as long as I can! Your support in buying me a coffee can help me achieve this and help more people.
to top