Legal Research

New Canadian Regulator for Immigration Consultants

By Yosie Saint-Cyr

This is a follow up on a previous blog post on Bill C-35, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to regulate immigration consultants. While Bill C-35 is not yet law (passed third reading in the House of Commons and on March 10, 2011 was at report presentation and debate stage in the Senate), the Governor in Council launched a public selection process which began in August 2010, to establish a new regulatory body for immigration consultants in Canada. On March 18, 2011, the Governor in Council announced that the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) has been proposed as the new regulator for this profession. Soon after, the federal government proceeded to propose amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations so that the ICCRC become the official regulator of immigration consultants.

It is anticipated that the ICCRC could become the regulatory body this summer. Once the regulations are approved, the ICCRC will take over the duties of regulating immigration consultants from the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC). In the meantime, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) remains the regulatory body for immigration consultants. It is proposed that immigration consultants would have an additional transition period of time to register with the ICCRC. The government recommends that CSIC members to register with the new regulator promptly, as should the transitional period pass and they are not yet registered, they would no longer be recognized as an authorized immigration consultant.

These regulations refer to the federal immigration application process only. Each province has its own procedures for dealing with immigration consultants. That begs to question, what Quebec will do since on February 2, 2011, only members of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) who are registered with the government of Quebec will be able to offer consulting services for Quebec immigration, read more here. Will they have to register with both regulators?

The ICCRC is not connected to CSIC, but will be established as an entirely new organization, with new by-laws, a new Board of Directors, new policies and new direction. The ICCRC will implement many initiatives designed to make changes to the regulation of this industry.

This change would not affect anyone who has hired a lawyer, or a member of the Chambre des notaires du Québec

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on March 19, 2011 (boomark / email).