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Regulating Immigration Consultants

Regulating Immigration Consultants. Overview. An overview of Bill C-35, An Act to Amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) Provide an update on CIC’s efforts to combat “ Ghost Consultants” Explore areas for cooperation and collaboration. Bill C-35 Related Provisions.

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Regulating Immigration Consultants

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  1. Regulating Immigration Consultants

  2. Overview • An overview of Bill C-35, An Act to Amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) • Provide an update on CIC’s efforts to combat “Ghost Consultants” • Explore areas for cooperation and collaboration

  3. Bill C-35 Related Provisions • 30 June 2011 - Bill C-35: An Act to Amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), came into force • To protect immigrants and the integrity of Canada’s immigration program • Offence for anyone other than an authorized representative to advise or represent a person: • for a fee or other consideration • in connection with an application or proceeding under the IRPA • Contains information sharing provisions • Establishes of a new regulatory body – Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC)

  4. Bill C-35 Requirements

  5. ICCRC – New Regulatory Body • 30 June 2011 - New regulatory body: The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) • The ICCRC was chosen as the governing body to regulate immigration consultants because it demonstrated it has the necessary competence, integrity, accountability, good governance and viability to effectively regulate the immigration consultant profession in the public interest. • The ICCRC currently has over 2200 members and maintains an up-to-date membership list on its website which can be searched by name, business name, or ICCRC membership number.

  6. Bill C-35: Information Sharing Provision • 10 April 2012 - Information sharing provision of Bill C-35, came into force • Requires the ICCRC to provide information to the government to ensure it is governing its members in the public interest • Authorizes the Governor in Council to make regulations requiring the designated body to provide the Minister with information regarding its activities • Permits the disclosure of information relating to the unprofessional or unethical conduct of individuals to the bodies responsible for investigating that conduct

  7. Uncompensated and Allowed Services • Bill C-35: allows uncompensated representatives to represent and/or provide immigration advice at any stage of an application or proceeding

  8. Stakeholders Do’s and Don’ts • Bill C-35: many stakeholders are now required to be “authorized representatives” if they wish to provide immigration services to clients, including certain types of immigration advice • Stakeholders affected include: • Travel agents • Employment agents and recruiters • Human resources professionals • Educational agents abroad • Adoption agencies • Live-in caregivers’ agents

  9. Stakeholder Do’s and Don’ts Cont.

  10. Ghost Consultants • “Ghost Consultants” areunregulated third party representatives who provide assistance and/or advice to prospective immigrants • Domestically, CBSA and RCMP continue to investigate complaints regarding “ghost consultants” • They may be subject to prosecution by law enforcement agencies for IRPA offences: • Conviction by indictment: a fine of up to $100,000 and/or to imprisonment for up to two years • Summary conviction: a fine of up to $20,000 and/or to imprisonment for up to six months • Canada has no extra juridical power to regulate and/or control immigration consultants overseas therefore relies on close cooperation with other countries

  11. DRAFT PROTECTED B Additional Measures Adopted by CIC • CIC Anti-fraud Media Campaign • To raise public awareness with fraud warning notices on our website: www.cic.gc.ca • Video & text messages translated into 17 languages • March 2009 – online survey conducted by CIC’s Communications Branch • Additional details are available on the CIC website: • CIC’s International Strategy • January 2009 - CIC Minister launches the international strategy on bilateral visit to India • These Bilateral engagements continued during trips to India, China, the Philippines, Australia and Europe (2010) and Pakistan (2011) • March 2011 – CIC launched a coordinated media campaign with members of the Five Country Conference (United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada) • November 2011 – CIC delivers presentation on efforts to regulate immigration consultants at the Regional Conference on Migration’s Technical Meeting in Santo Domingo.

  12. Moving Forward • Areas to consider for cooperation and collaboration: • Information exchange regarding regulatory approaches, complaints, and prosecutions • Anti-fraud communications to raise public awareness about potential risks associated with problematic immigration consultants/agents/brokers • Joint lobbying of internet search engine providers (i.e. Google) to remove unscrupulous consultants or immigration scam websites from top pages of search results • The exchange of empirical or anecdotal information to better assess the economic/social costs associated with immigration fraud issues and the effectiveness of anti-fraud measures and advertising

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