It is common- knowledge that ‘ghost consultants’ negatively impact Canada’s immigration system. Social media are full of stories about thousands of victims from India losing thousands of dollars to ghost or unauthorized consultants. Many innocent people who fall prey to these crooks realize that their consultants were unauthorized only at a later point in time. The ghost consultants not only cheat many out of money but ruin the application too. They make errors and misrepresentations, and finally, the applications get rejected and the applicants banned. The victims may then need the help of Canadian immigration lawyers to set the wrongs right. Unfortunately, many a time, it is too late to reverse the wrongdoings. Even a lawyer’s help may not be able to save them from visa rejections and application -bans and penalties for misrepresentation.
Who Are Ghost Consultants?
Ghost consultants are those who provide immigration services to clients without proper education, training, and license. They pose themselves as immigration consultants fraudulently. They cannot represent a client in immigration or apply on behalf of the client. While Canadian Immigration lawyers submit their client’s applications through the lawyer’s portal, Ghost consultants submit the applications using the client’s email or an email created in the client’s name. In that case, the unauthorized consultant is not visible, and nobody represents the client. The client will become legally liable for any misrepresentation that the ghost consultant makes.
Book Your Immigration Appointment NowBy law, Canadian Lawyers can help and file immigration applications on behalf of their clients. Non- Lawyers need to get licensed by the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC). Anon-lawyer must complete an immigration study program, pass an exam, undergo a background check, and submit to become an authorized immigration consultant for regular compliance audits. Only lawyers and, in their absence, licensed immigration consultants can file applications on behalf of their clients. However, most of the unauthorized consultants operate in the shadows and fall outside the radar of the ICCRC. These fraudsters con their clients and the Canadian Immigration system.
Menace caused by ghost consultants
The ghost consultants tout unique connections with the bureaucracy, and some of them even promise jobs and college admissions in institutions and organizations that may or may not exist. Sometimes, such consultants force the applicants to forge documents or lie, and, in other cases, the consultants even do such acts without the applicants’ knowledge.
Though the Canadian government has been taking stiff action against those who commit immigration frauds, many ghost consultants continue their operations outside the radar. Some of them go to the extent of duping the system and make tonnes of money in this fraudulent manner.
Despite receiving hundreds of complaints about the operations of suspected illegal immigration consultants over the years, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been able to open only a couple of dozen investigations.
Though critics think that ghost consultants continue their operations because of the absence of strict enforcement of the law by the government, carelessness and ignorance on the part of an applicant is the primary reason for this thriving illegal business. Furthermore, the applicants do not ask for a retainer agreement from a Canadian lawyer or immigration consultant. They do not properly check whether the consultant is licensed in Canada. They do not appreciate the qualitative difference between immigration lawyers, authorized consultants, and unauthorized ones. They think immigration applications are just a matter of filling some forms. They do not understand that only a licensed and experienced professional can help with their immigration in a proper and authorized way.
Consequences of working with ghost consultants
One of the problems is that applicants engage ghost consultants to face is visa refusal. Seeking assistance from unauthorized consultants itself is an offence. In addition, unauthorized consultants may make mistakes and misrepresentations. Fraudulent consultants often advise clients to provide false information in their immigration applications. In the last few years, there has been a three-fold increase in visa rejections in Indian applicants. The sad part is that even if the applicant can provide evidence to immigration officials that the ghost consultant is responsible for misrepresenting information without their knowledge, it doesn’t help. Seeking services from an unauthorized consultant is an offence, and it is a ground for rejecting the application and imposing a ban. Misrepresentation is also an offence, and risks associated with misrepresentation depend on the severity. They can range from a delay in the processing of an application to visa refusal and immigration ban. As the repercussions of misrepresentation are potentially severe, applicants need to ensure that the processing of their applications is correct in the first attempt itself to save time, money, and resources.
Advantages of engaging a Canadian immigration lawyer
Reports show that the chances of visa refusal are much lower when an applicant engages Canadian immigration lawyers. In the case of people who prepare applications themselves, visa rejections were more than 19 percent. Besides that, visa refusals in the case of applications prepared by consultants came in at 18 percent. This clearly shows the chances of visa success increase significantly when prospective candidates hire the services of a Canadian immigration lawyer.
Experts attribute better visa success outcomes to the rigorous education that Canadian lawyers go through and their skills related to legal analysis. Besides, experts think that factors such as the complexity of a case and providing clear-cut advice in hopeless immigration cases influence the success rates achieved by immigration lawyers.
Further, the advantage of engaging an immigration lawyer they maintain high professional standards. They accept clients on a lawyer retainer agreement. The purpose of entering into such an agreement is to highlight the duties of the client and the immigration lawyers and set clear expectations regarding the cost involved and services offered. Canadian lawyers receive client’s money in their trust account monitored by the law societies.
How to Spot an unauthorized Consultant
The best way to avoid unauthorized consultants is to ask for a retainer agreement. Additionally, one needs to check the license of the lawyer or consultant before making any payment. An Immigration Lawyer needs no registration with ICCRC. You can check their licensure with the relevant law society here. Lawyer and Paralegal Directory | Law Society of Ontario (lso.ca) Non- Lawyers need registration with ICCRC. You can check it here. Find an Immigration Professional – ICCRC-CRCIC. It is an offense punishable by law if a non-lawyer provides Canadian immigration services for a fee or other consideration if not regulated by ICCRC.
Many consultancy firms pretend that they have a licensed Canadian consultant. They may publish the name and the registration details of some consultants to generate confidence. This practice of name-lending is widely used to trap a client. However, these consultancies never engage a Canadian lawyer or a consultant to file your application or represent you. Therefore, it is essential to identify the lawyer/ consultant and to talk to them directly.
Canada’s responses to curb the menace of ghost consultants
On the back of reports that ghost consultants are rampant in India, Canada launched a campaign to help new applicants in India. The Canadian Governments warned prospective immigrants not to engage Indian agencies in their immigration process. The campaign also focused on assisting them in avoiding fraud consultants and common immigration scams and encouraging them to engage licensed Canadian lawyers or other professionals when applying for a Canada visa.
To crackdown on unscrupulous immigration consultants, the federal government plans to create a professional college that puts immigration consultants on a regulatory footing like one implemented for doctors and lawyers. The government’s decision to take stern action stems from a report submitted by MPs in 2017, which called for an overhaul of laws that regulate the operation of immigration consultants and the dissolution of ICCRC, the existing regulatory body.
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