Fact Sheet 25

Immigration
Representatives

Snapshot

Individuals who are making visa or other applications under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sometimes obtain the help of a representative for additional advice and support. There are two types of representatives: paid and unpaid.

No one is obliged to hire a representative for immigration and refugee matters. The Government of Canada treats everyone equally, whether or not they use the services of a representative.

Paid representatives

A paid representative is anyone who charges a fee to represent, advise or consult on immigration matters.

The new regulations state that paid representatives must be authorized. Authorized representatives must be:

• immigration consultants who are members in good standing of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants; or
• lawyers who are members in good standing of a Canadian law society and students-at-law under their supervision; or
• notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and students-at-law under their supervision.

If you have an application or proceeding already underway as of April 13, 2004, you may continue to use the services of your paid representative until April 13, 2008.

After April 13, 2008, if your representative is not a member of one of the organizations listed above, you may choose to continue unrepresented or hire an authorized representative.

Unpaid representatives

A person or organization that does not charge a fee for the service may represent you as an unpaid representative. For example:

• non-governmental or religious organizations
• friends
• family members

Unpaid representatives do not need to be authorized representatives, but for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to share your personal information with them, they must be:

• Canadian citizens;
• permanent residents of Canada; or
• physically present in Canada.

To protect your privacy, you must provide written consent to CIC before any personal information may be shared with your representative.

For additional information on immigration representatives, including authorization forms for representatives and links to the organizations that regulate authorized representatives, please go to www.cic.gc.ca.