Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - February 2010
The province of Quebec has announced new restrictions on immigration consultants, in hopes of cracking down on illegitimate consultants taking advantage of vulnerable new arrivals to Canada.
The new regulations, which will go into effect in June of this year, will require that all immigrant representatives in provincial cases, including consultants, notaries and lawyers, be certified by the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC).
The Quebec government will also require that all consultants speak French, pass an exam on immigration rules and regulations, as well as make sure that they have not broken any immigration laws for the previous three years, in order to become certified.
The move, which comes in light of recent scrutiny of immigration consultants across Canada, is being praised by the CSIC and other major immigrant advocate associations throughout the province.
"I think any measures to protect clients of immigration services from being exploited are welcome," said Daniel Tardif, who is with the CSIC subsidiary group the Canadian Migration Institute.
There are currently only 156 immigration consultants certified by the CSIC in the province of Quebec. However, the profession is in very high demand, due to the high amounts of bureaucratic red tape and varying rules and exceptions in the immigration system.
Source: Montreal Gazette
