Immigration Ghost Consultants: Dangers, Measures, Outlook

As a multicultural, safe, and economically strong nation, Canada is one of the most attractive countries worldwide for immigrants wanting to build a new life. While seeking professional help to navigate this life-changing endeavour can be incredibly helpful, ensuring to hire an authorized immigration consultant is crucial. Seeking the help of an unauthorized practitioner or ghost consultant could have devastating consequences and prevent clients from entering or being able to settle in Canada. The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) is currently increasing its efforts to track down and discipline immigration ghost consultants and raise public awareness. This article will explain what ghost consultants are, how they differ from authorized immigration consultants, and what measures the CICC can take to discipline offenders.

What are Immigration Ghost Consultants?

Immigration ghost consultants are unregulated and unauthorized practitioners without a licence to practice or the necessary training to advise clients reliably. Their practice constitutes an offence punishable by law. Ghost consultants may operate from within Canada or abroad and offer immigration services as part of their work as travel agents, labour recruiters, educational agents, or student recruiters. They may also falsely claim to partner with an authorized immigration consultant and are frequently active on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Ghost consultants may offer to submit applications for visitor visas, study, or work permits on behalf of clients, often while charging higher than usual fees. They may advise their victims to lie or forge documents to enter Canada, or they may do so on the client’s behalf without their knowledge, for example, by using a fake email. This malpractice puts clients at a high risk of being refused immigration status due to misrepresentation, false information, or even criminal liability, whether clients were aware of the misconduct or not. Other possible scenarios include losing one’s legal status within Canada, application bans, fines, deportation, or being banned from Canada. In some cases, victims may discover that the job or college program they were promised doesn't exist, their application for permanent residence was never submitted, or the ghost consultant disappeared with their money.

How do They Differ from Authorized Consultants?

In Canada, only immigration consultants in good standing and licensed by the CICC can give Canadian immigration advice in exchange for a fee or benefit. Exceptions apply to members of any Canadian Law Society and the Chambre des Notaires du Québec.

The CICC regulates the following professions:

• Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs)
• RCICs holding an IRB Class of Licence
• Regulated International Student Immigration Advisors (RISIAs)

RCICs and RISIAs are required to adhere to the following professional standards:

• Complete the necessary educational programs
• Successfully pass an Entry-to-Practice Exam (RCIC or RISIA EPE)
• Maintain an annual Professional Liability Insurance
• Complete mandatoryPractice Management Education (PME) courses
• Complete 16 hours ofContinuing Professional Development (CPD) every year
• Participate in a competency-based assessment process to identify competence gaps
• Comply with the CICC’sCode of Professional Conduct
• RCICs must have secured the IRB License to present clients before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

What Measures Does the CICC Take, and what Powers are Available?

The Government of Canada designated the CICC a self-regulatory organization overseeing the immigration consulting profession. It replaced the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) in 2021. The College is responsible for conducting hearings and imposing sanctions and disciplinary actions on authorized consultants who breach regulations or engage in unethical behaviour. If necessary, this may include the involvement of law enforcement. The CICC is currently only authorized to apply its regulations to practitioners with RISIA, RCIC, or RCIC-IRB licences. Some main reasons for establishing the CICC are proposed changes, such as enhanced powers and tools for oversight, enforcement and investigation, and increased authority to identify unauthorized practitioners and hold them responsible for their misconduct. However, these new regulations are still being developed in close cooperation with the Department of Justice and IRCC and must be drafted and accepted by the Federal government. Until then, the CICC’s measures include the following:

To ensure that consumers are protected and consultants provide competent and ethical services, the CICC offers information to the public about licensed consultants, including a searchable Public Register where all authorized consultants are listed as active, their contact information, and what services they are licensed for. Anyone can use this tool to help verify a Canadian immigration consultant’s status as a licensee of the College and, therefore, their trustworthiness.The CICC also works with offshore partners to ensure that people worldwide know how to use the public register as well as the dangers of using unauthorized practitioners.

The College’s latest efforts in fighting immigration fraud include two major international public awareness campaigns in partnership with IRCC and CBSA. Both campaigns addressed the dangers of using unauthorized representatives or ghost consultants and the importance of reviewing the College’s public register when choosing a consultant.

The first campaign ran in March 2024 for Fraud Prevention Month. This highly successful, multilingual campaign achieved a 7,267% increase in YouTube subscribers and more than one million video views across Canada and its top four source countries for immigration: India, China, Nigeria, and the Philippines.

In June 2024, the campaign was extended for another four weeks and expanded to 16 of Canada’s top immigration source countries: Ghana, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Nigeria, Vietnam, Algeria, Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Haiti, Lebanon, Morocco, Cameroon, and Tunisia.

Both campaigns ran across CICC’s social media platforms, Spotify, and Google Ads. Some of the two campaigns’ combined achievements are the following:

• Over 864 million impressions
• 4 million clicks across the College’s social media channels and Google Ads
• 10.5 million views on YouTube
• A 220.8% increase in visitors to the Public Register as a direct result of the campaigns

Additionally, the CICC has a complaint process in place which anyone can use to report an authorized or unauthorized representative through the CICC’s website. When a complaint about an authorized consultant reaches an investigator, they decide whether the case should proceed. If it does, it reaches the Complaints Committee, where it is reviewed and recommendations are made. If the RCIC challenges the committee’s decision, the case goes to the Disciplinary Hearings process, whose decision can be rechallenged in court by the affected RCIC. Any complaints regarding unauthorized persons to the CICC will be reported to the CBSA and RCMP, which may conduct investigations and seizures of files and documents as per the federal statute. However, CBSA and RCMP involvement is rare. The College Act also gives the CICC the power to have Canadian courts stop the practice of unauthorized practitioners.

The Immigration Practitioner Centre

Ashton College’s Immigration Practitioner Centre (IPC) is your resource for staying current with the latest developments in the Canadian immigration field. We help ensure practitioners can provide their clients with the best possible and most up-to-date service. For example, we offer our certificate immigration law courses that provide attendees with practical training and are pre-approved for varying CPD hours by the CICC. The IPC also offers monthly CPD seminars via live stream to provide licensed Immigration Practitioners with a high-quality education and fulfil their CPD requirements. Learn more about our mission and our various courses and seminars: https://www.ashtoncollege.ca/immigration-practitioner-centre/