Regulation on Canadian Immigration Consultants

Regulation on Canadian Immigration Consultants
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Regulation on Canadian Immigration Consultants
For a long time, Canada has hosted refugees, asylum seekers who turn for legal assistance without differentiating between lawyers, consultants, and non-governmental organizations. There have been many efforts to address the issues of how and by whom the immigration consultants should be regulated but have turned futile. As a result, there have been no set standards for the level of education, quality of services and accountability necessary for one to offer services as an immigration consultant. Various consultants have abused trust their clients leading to the discrediting of the profession as a whole. The following paper, therefore, focusses on the problem and proposes solutions and recommendations.
Discussions have been held regarding the role of the immigration consultants and the need for a regulated professional body to oversee the activities of immigration consultants. The main parties involved in the discussions include the Law Society of British Colombia, Canada Bar Association, and the Law Society of Canada. Others include consultant organizations such as Association of Immigration Practitioners, Organization of Professional Immigration Consultants, the International Association of Immigration Counsel of Canada which has remained vigorous for this course and the College of Immigration Practitioners of Canada. These players have made on various occasions representations in the House of Committees and the Senate to emphasize the need for regulations of immigration consultants.

Solutions suggested curbing the problem include restricting registration of immigration consultants to Canadian citizens. In as much as this answer seems sensible, it would have to be included more coercive measures mainly because Canadian citizenship does not guarantee accountability to the Canadian legal system and does not need any physical presence in Canada. There will be no consequences to the citizenship status of a consultant who defaults policies and remains abroad for a particular period. The other solution would be to restrict the registration of lawyers, solicitors, and barristers.
The practice of immigration laws in the United States is restricted to only members of state Bars and some non-governmental organizations such that when issues concerning illegal practice arise they are referred to the appropriate bar association for action. The solution would be viable as it makes practitioners accessible to regulators and restricts access of practitioners not regulated by the immigration system. Many immigration consultants practice outside Canada and hence impose limitations on attempts to investigate complains about their misconducts. It is, therefore, recommended that membership in the regulatory body be denied to individuals who do not demonstrate the body’s satisfaction that their consulting services are sufficiently linked to Canada to allow proper enforcement of the regulatory body rules of conduct. Canadian Embassies should advise foreign applicants that their representatives are disclosed on the immigration application. Moreover, Embassies should decline any communication with unlicensed representatives.
In conclusion, there is a dire need to create an independent and self-regulating body for immigration consultants. This authority will be in a position to protect vulnerable applicants while enhancing public confidence in the Canadian immigration programs (Guo & Shan, 2013). There is also the need to create a secretariat on regulating immigration consultants to implement the essential recommendations including an action plan outlining the process to bring the new body into existence. The boy should comprise of people with consumer protection, consulting experience and professional regulation to represent the diversity of the Canadian population and clientele such that a variety of prior concerns are addressed.
Reference
Guo, S., & Shan, H. (2013). The politics of recognition: Critical discourse analysis of recent PLAR policies for immigrant professionals in Canada. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 32(4), 464-480.