|
|
 |
  |
| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
So you want to migrate to Canada ? by Shani Hanwella, Toronto, Canada Judging by the number of telephone enquiries and e-mail messages received daily at our office in Toronto, it appears that the Sri Lankan community in and outside Canada have many immigration related queries on a range of different topics.
Unscrupulous Certain other callers appear disappointed with services received from immigration practitioners and wish to know if they have any recourse. Many of these people appear to have little or no knowledge about their rights as consumers, and how to seek redress in the event of bad experiences at the hands of unscrupulous immigration practitioners. In an era where migration to other countries has become increasingly popular, individuals and agencies that provide immigration-related services have surged rapidly. As with many other areas, among lawful service providers there emerged some undesirable individuals and agencies posing as bona fide practitioners just as weeds grows along the corn in the cornfield. Needless to say, their conduct has brought disrepute to the industry as a whole. It is my belief that individuals interested in immigration should do some research concerning their anticipated needs before they seek the services of a practitioner. This should include getting to know about the plausibility and legality of the contemplated plan to migrate. If someone is interested in immigrating to Canada he or she can surf the Canadian government Citizenship and Immigration website at www.cic.gc.ca to find valuable information on a variety of topics relating to migration to Canada. However, given the amount of information and instructions available, it is not unusual that someone who is not familiar with the subject may find it difficult to understand at times. Nevertheless it certainly helps to make the effort to try to gain a rudimentary understanding about the process before your first appointment with an immigration practitioner, be it an immigration lawyer or a consultant. Immigration Lawyers in Canada have always been regulated and monitored by a Professional Licensing Body in Canada. Immigration consultants however, were not regulated by the Canadian government until quite recently. The first such regulation was introduced and was implemented by Canadian visa offices around the world approximately 3-4 years ago. Pursuant this regulation, any person who assists a client in Canadian immigration matters for a fee should: Be a Canadian citizen; or Be a permanent resident of Canada; or Physically located in Canada. However, the above regulation, in itself, was not sufficient to curb the irregularities since the individuals who met the specified criteria too continued to violate the ethical standards of the profession. Concerned with the emerging situation, the Canadian government included this issue in its agenda of bill C-11, which later became the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of 2002. Legislation As a by-product of the newly implemented legislation, an Advisory Committee was appointed to identify the various problems within the immigration consulting industry. The need for regulation stemmed from a number of factors. For many years, there were no set standards for the levels of education, the quality of service or the professional accountability necessary to offer one's services as an immigration consultant which led to confusion among the immigrant and refugee communities. The findings of the committee were somewhat shocking. They found that some consultants were indeed unscrupulous, holding themselves out as experts on the subject of immigration despite the fact that they had little or no training or experience. There was also concern that this was the tip of the iceberg - because many victims were either afraid to complain or resided outside of Canada. In addition, there was no formal complaints process established to deal with those consultants who abused the trust of their clients and therefore tarnished the industry as a whole. These findings, coupled with the Committee's recommendations eventually resulted in the creation of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) - an independent and self regulating body for immigration consultants who charge a fee for their services. The government of Canada amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations as of April 13, 2004 so that all practising immigration consultants will need to be members in good standing with either the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC), a Canadian provincial law society or the Chambre des notaries du Quebec (the latter two apply for Canadian lawyers only) in order to participate in new matters before Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). The CSIC was primarily established with the interest of immigrant clients (including those from abroad) at heart, to protect them from being taken advantage of by the unscrupulous individuals or organisations who pose as bona fide immigration consultants. It is thus the duty of all members of CSIC to promote the interests of the Society as well as make known its objectives among the prospective immigrant clients in and outside of Canada. Should anybody wish to seek further information about the Society, its objectives and services, the following are the contact details: Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants Shani Hanwella is a former Visa Officer who served at the Canadian High Commission in Colombo before immigrating to Canada herself. She is now a partner and the Chief Processing Officer of an immigration law firm in Toronto, Canada. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
Many
people outside Canada seek information about gaining permanent residence
status in Canada. Others who are already in Canada on temporary status
inquire about changing theirs to permanent status. Many others who are
already permanent residents in Canada seek information about sponsoring
their family members to the country. Some others are interested in
learning about application processing times, dealing with delays of
already filed applications, or challenging refused applications in the
Federal Court of Canada or before other appellate tribunals.
