How To Make Your Immigration Practice Successful

If you are looking into starting your career of an immigration practitioner, it’s essential to understand what you need to pay attention to in order to achieve success. As any other professional field immigration requires certain knowledge and skills and the sooner you find out what they are, the better for your career. Read this blog to get familiar with everything you need to know to drive your immigration practice to success.

Proper education

In order to become a successful immigration consultant you need to get the proper training to develop a profound knowledge of immigration law and policies, immigration classes, temporary status, and refugees, any rules and regulations that apply to the immigration process, enforcement and appeals. Taking an immigration practitioner program, accredited by the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), will help you build a solid foundation of knowledge and skills necessary to operate your business.

One of the program modules is specifically dedicated to setting up and managing a business. You will be guided through the details of developing a business plan, opening an immigration practice and managing all aspects of it, including finances and human resources. You will also be able to learn more about marketing and business development and how to apply the best practices to your company. Owning a company is an enormous responsibility and you should take it seriously in order to achieve great results.

Taking an immigration practitioner program will give you exposure to multiple resources, including the krnowledgeable faculty and alumni of the immigration practitioner centre. All of them are experienced industry professionals who manage their own companies. They will be able to mentor you and provide valuable advice on how to overcome the challenges you are facing and establish the proper business process. Working under somebody else’s guidance at first will give you an opportunity to learn as you work and at the same to avoid any crucial mistakes.

Essential Skills

The special characteristics of an immigration practice business are the legalities you will be dealing with. You will be required to know and implement the rules of professional conduct for immigration consultants, according to the ICCRC bylaws, regulations, policies, and guidelines. You will need to develop an understanding of the ethics and professional responsibilities of an immigration practitioner and make sure you can make ethical decisions in your work, resolve conflicts with clients and follow the applicable regulations.

Also, as with any other business, operating an immigration practice requires excellent organizational skills. You will need to learn how to manage resources, keep track of the finances and streamline the operations processes. You will need to attract the clients and set up effective methods of communication with them. You might need to work on your communication and networking skills to maintain and develop your business.

Other important aspects of this profession you might hear about while taking an immigration practitioner program is caring about your clients. You should be driven by an authentic desire to help people. You need to be a good listener, learn all the details about the clients’ life situations and the problems they might have. And your job is to come up with the solutions to these problems and assist the clients with resolving any issues that might hinder their immigration to Canada.

Professional development

Even after completion of an immigration practitioner program you still need to take time and effort to upgrade your knowledge and skills to match the industry demand. The immigration field is constantly changing and it’s crucial to stay updated on the new rules and regulations to be able to provide the best service to your clients. To get more in-depth knowledge in certain areas of immigration law you can take advance certifications and be able to expand your services to new categories of clients.

The Certificate in Refugee Class Immigration Law (CIRC) will provide knowledge of the requirements which must be established for a person to be found to be a Convention Refugee and a Protected Person under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). You will also learn about the process and procedure of preparing a refugee claim, appearing before the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and appealing decisions to the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD).

You will study the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) in detail. You will also learn about the most common reasons why refugee applications fail and what can be done to make sure they are successful. You will be guided through the entire process of supporting your clients, from preparing a refugee claim to receiving the designated protected status or removal. Case studies and real-life scenarios discussions will help you to develop practical skills and bridge it with theory.

Another advance certification is the Certificate in Immigration Tribunal Practice (CITP) which will help familiarize you with the process and procedure involved when appearing before the Immigration Division and the Immigration Appeal Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The Immigration Division conducts admissibility hearings for foreign nationals or permanent residents believed to be inadmissible to, or removable from Canada and also conducts detention reviews for those detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The Immigration Appeal Division hears appeals on immigration-related matters.

The certificate will teach you the general rules of both the Immigration Division and the Immigration Appeal Division. It will also help you identify potential issues during the hearing process and understand how to prepare for them. You will be able to discuss difficult cases, examine real-life hearings, prepare for and participate in the mock tribunal hearings. The experienced faculty will be able to provide feedback and help you gain confidence to appear before the tribunals.