The Director of Communications at the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), Daniel Roukema, has received the 2016 Consumer Protection Award from the American Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulations (CLEAR). This award recognizes that the ICCRC actively improves the Canadian immigration procedure for clients who retain the services of an authorized Canadian immigration representative.
Individuals preparing a Canadian immigration application may retain an accredited immigration lawyer or consultant to represent their case.
According to Canadian law, all individuals who receive payment in exchange for assistance with immigration applications must be authorized to do so.
- Lawyers or notaries must be a member of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, or the Chambre des notaires du Québec.
- Citizenship or immigration consultants must be a member of the IRCC.
- In Ontario only, paralegals must be members of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
ICCRC is designated by the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly known as CIC) and the Immigration and Refugees Protection Act (IRPA) to regulate and authorize citizenship and immigration consultants. This involves ensuring that consultants adhere to the ICCRC’s code of ethics, and that consumer rights are protected. ICCRC also regulates international student consultants.
In recent years, numerous cases of immigration fraud have made the news. Engaging an unauthorized immigration representative may be dangerous for an individual’s immigration application. Illegal representatives may present fake job offers, overcharge for services, or provide inaccurate or misleading advice about the immigration process. The risks to the prospective immigrant may include a refused application. In extreme cases, prospective immigrants risk being banned from applying to Canadian immigration programs for five years, if the applicant has provided false or misleading documents or information.
Through a framework of disciplinary action and an anonymous complaints service, ICCRC monitors its members (known as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants, or RCICs) in order to ensure that immigration consultants are not taking advantage of foreign nationals wishing to immigrate to Canada.
Roukema has been credited with introducing a successful anonymous whistleblowing network for people to report individuals or organizations who provide immigration consulting services illegally. In addition, under his leadership ICCRC has led a popular social media campaign to raise awareness about the importance of selecting an authorized immigration representative. As a result, reports of potential fraud and potential fake representatives have increased. ICCRC passes these reports on to Canadian law enforcement, which is responsible for investigating such accusations.
