Immigration Lawyers: directory of firms

The rule in section 91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is narrow on purpose. Paid representation or advice on an immigration application is limited to members in good standing of a law society, including paralegals, members of the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and members in good standing of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Anyone outside that list who charges for the work is committing an offence, regardless of how confident their advertising sounds.

The department's process mirrors the statute. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada explains that paid representatives are consultants in good standing with the College, lawyers and paralegals in good standing with a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, or notaries in good standing with the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and that unpaid representatives are friends, family members or other third parties who receive no compensation. A Use of a Representative form is what appoints, updates or cancels a representative on your file.

Verification is a two-step job because the bodies are different. A lawyer is checked in their law society's public directory, and a consultant is checked on the College's register. Do both before money changes hands, and do them again if the person handling your file changes partway through.

Both are authorised under section 91, and both can be a sensible choice, but they are trained, regulated and insured by different bodies under different rules. The honest way to decide is to describe your matter and ask each of them the same questions: what they would do at each stage, which steps they can personally carry out for you, what happens if the application is refused, and who takes over if the file escalates.

That last question matters most where a refusal leads somewhere else. Appeals to the Immigration and Refugee Board, detention reviews and court challenges are a different discipline from preparing a complete application, and a straight answer about where a professional's work stops is more useful than a confident promise. Nobody authorised to advise you can guarantee an outcome, and a guarantee is itself a warning sign.

Immigration deadlines are unforgiving, and the ones attached to a decision are usually the shortest. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada describes itself as the country's largest independent administrative tribunal, deciding immigration and refugee matters, and it works through divisions that handle refugee claims, refugee appeals, immigration appeals, and admissibility hearings and detention reviews. Each has its own filing requirements and its own clock.

If someone has been detained, or has received a removal or admissibility decision, get advice the same day rather than the same week. If status has already expired, say so plainly at the first meeting: the options for someone who has fallen out of status are different from the options for someone who has not, and hiding it only narrows them further.

Immigration work is often quoted as a flat fee per application, because the steps are fairly predictable, while appeals, detention matters and court challenges are usually billed hourly against a retainer. Ask which model applies to your matter, what is included at each stage, and whether a refusal, a request for further evidence or an interview would be extra.

Government processing fees, biometrics, medical examinations, police certificates, certified translations and courier costs are separate from any professional fee and are charged by the bodies that collect them. Get the total picture in writing before you start, and keep your own copy of every document filed on your behalf so you are never dependent on a representative to know what is in your file.