Who Can Assist Me in Immigrating to Canada From South Africa?
When looking to immigrate to Canada from South Africa, or any other country for that matter, it is important to do your homework and ensure that you are using someone reputable and that you are obtaining the correct advice and information, otherwise you could be wasting not only your time but also your money.
One of the major factors to watch out for when selecting an immigration company / representative to assist you in immigrating to Canada from South Africa is to ensure that the company or representative is legally authorised to give immigration advice. Many companies state that they have an authorised representative working for them, but they fail to tell you that that person is not handling your case. In most cases, companies advertise they are registered, but all the registered individual does is sign off your file before submission. They never assess you, communicate with you, or even complete your application. In most cases the authorised individual is not even in the same Country as you. One of the major issues with this method is, if you sign on and go through the entire immigration process you may actually find out months later at the time of submission that you never actually qualified to immigrate to Canada from South Africa to begin with.
When anyone assesses you or qualifies you for immigration OR gives you paid advice ensure they are actually authorised to do so and are not a case worker, agent of the representative or a sales person. For example, when dealing with Canadian Immigration you need to be one of the following to provide advice or recommend an immigration program / plan:
- Lawyers and paralegals who are members in good standing of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society (Does not include South African Lawyers or paralegals)
- Notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and (Does not include South African Notaries)
- Immigration consultants who are members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC)
If you are on the phone with someone who is telling you that you qualify to immigrate to Canada from South Africa, or to any other country. Ask them if they are a salesperson or if they fall into one of the authorised classifications for that specific country. If they say that they do, ask for their registration number and verify it on the official website for that organisation. Do not be afraid to hang up and call them later. A lot of companies are using scare tactics and try to force you to sign up o the phone immediately and to pay them via credit card. Also be clear that you want to speak with the authorised representative directly and not the case manager before signing on for anything or making payments of any kind to the company. We highly recommend you get the authorised representative’s phone number and direct e-mail address as well to see if they communicate with you, to ensure they are legitimate.
If you are looking to immigrate to Canada from South Africa you can find out if the person you are dealing with falls under one of the categories by checking with their regulatory board in Canada directly. The regulatory board will be able to confirm their registration and their physical address. The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) provides the list of all of their members on their website where you can search by name, location, company name, and a variety of other criteria:
If the person you are looking to hire for your Canadian immigration application does not appear to be registered with any of the regulatory boards listed above, ask them directly. Ask them which regulatory board they belong to along with their membership number. This will give them the opportunity to clarify your concerns. You can then use this to confirm with their regulatory body. Also, most companies display their membership logo directly on their website. If you do not see this logo, it may be a clue that they are not legally authorised to represent you.
If you find a person or company is not authorised to provide Canadian immigration advise for a fee you should not use them in order to protect yourself and your application from any possible issues with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You can also report them directly to the CICC by visiting their website below:
https://college-ic.ca/protecting-the-public/unauthorized-practice
Alternatively, if it is a lawyer who is not registered with the required body you can report them to the law society which they are a member of:
http://www.cba.org/cba/info/faq/law_society.aspx
If you are looking to immigrate to New Zealand then by law, any person that gives you immigration advice about New Zealand must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority unless they have been given an exemption. This includes people giving New Zealand immigration advice from South Africa, or anywhere else in the world. You can find out if the person you have contacted is licensed at the link below by searching a variety of criteria including country of location:
https://iaa.ewr.govt.nz/PublicRegister/Search.aspx
You can also see if they have an exemption at the link below:
http://www.iaa.govt.nz/migrant/exempt.asp
If you are looking to immigrate to Australia then only registered migration agents can legally provide you with immigration assistance in Australia. To do this, they must be listed on the Register of Migration Agents, held by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority. You can find a registered agent at the link below by searching a variety of criteria including country of location:
https://www.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents/
Please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. Most countries require that anyone providing immigration advice be registered by a designated body. If you are looking to immigrate to a country that is not listed above be sure to do your research with their government to review the requirements.
When researching representatives for any of the countries listed above, always ensure you are researching the correct company. Many scam companies are now copying authorised individuals’ websites in hopes of scamming clients who think they are using the legitimate company. The company name could vary by one letter and look and sound exactly the same. This is why it is also important to always check for the appropriate logo on the website and to search for the representative’s name. Most countries require by law that the name of the authorised representative be listed on the company website. You can then use these details to do your search on one of the sites above. For some of the countries above, such as Canada, you can actually contact the authorised representatives directly through the government site. This way you know the person who receives your e-mail is the correct person.
Contact us for assistance:
Tel: +27 (0) 14 941 0802
WhatsApp: +1 (289) 400 4007
E-mail: info@canadaabroad.com
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