Bad Apples: Finding good immigrant help

Bad Apples: Finding good immigrant help

CANADIAN IMMIGRATION VIEWS

Over the past few months we have seen a number of highly publicized investigative reports and articles on the subject of where to get good advice and help with legal and paralegal matters.

One of the articles from the Toronto Star, “Lost in Migration”, was more of a thinly veiled attack on immigration consultants making it seem that despite regulation of their industry consultants were not to be trusted. A short time later Maclean’s Magazine published, “Lawyer are rats” apparently a frequently made comparison.

Obviously, despite the best efforts of the journalists in these cases, we know that not all consultants are bad and not all lawyers are rats. We know that in every basket there will be a few bad apples.

So where can you turn for some honest professional advice? What should you look for?

Professionalism.

Plain and simple, professionalism is summed up by experience, honesty, integrity, training, ongoing professional development, membership in a professional association such as the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants (CAPIC), and of course, registration as an authorized representative being a member of a law society in Canada or the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC).

The person should be making immigration their career not their hobby.

Experience. How long has the person been in business and what is their history? Make sure that the person you are considering hiring is capable of doing what needs to be done. It is possible to have 20 years of experience as a lawyer but to have never done an immigration case. It is possible for a consultant to be in business for 20 years but to have never done and appeal case. Often business people will specialize. This is no different in the immigration business. Does the person have specific experience doing what you need to be done?

Background. Does the person have the proper training to do the work they say they can do? It may sound odd, but many immigration consultants are better equipped than many lawyers to do immigration work. When lawyers graduate they are not necessarily trained in any way for immigration work.

Lawyers are given permission to practice real estate, criminal, family or any number of areas of law. If you find a lawyer or consultant that practices in many different areas, you should ask the question of how much attention they will pay to immigration and how much real expertise they have in immigration. Choose a lawyer or consultant that does only immigration work.

Training and Professional Development. Where did the person get their training? What is their formal education? What is their specific education related to immigration? Immigration is dynamic environment and things change frequently. Do they regularly attend professional development seminars or other regular professional development courses? (CAPIC holds seminars and sessions at least six times per year) Choose a lawyer or consultant that has the updated education and training that is consistent with what you are asking them to do?

Membership. Of course, law requires you to use only an “Authorized Representative”. You must use a Certified Canadian Immigration Consultant (member in good standing of CSIC) or a member in good standing of a Law Society in Canada or the Notaires for our lawyer friends in Quebec. Also, belonging to a professional association is vital too. A good organization such as CAPIC providing services to over 600 consultants provides the education, information, lobbying and recognition that is required for professionalism.

Honesty and integrity. Does this person have good references? What kind of advice is the person giving? Does it sound too good to be true? It probably is. Does the counsel present all the information without any fancy dancing around issues? Does the counsel make any misleading or false statements? Does the counsel imply anything about relationships with government officials either in what they say or do or in their advertisements? Of course these are very telling about what this person is made out of. Are they made up of fact or fantasy? More importantly, what are they trying to sell you?

Price. Once you have found competent and good counsel that you can work with, price may be an issue. Ask how much time it will take to do the work? What is the special knowledge that must be employed? What additional or special training is necessary? What is the experience of the person with respect to this issue? What is the benefit to you? Ultimately, you have to decide if the fee is reasonable. Remember, the fees paid to a seasoned, good and experienced counsel may seem like a king’s ransom to many new lawyers and consultants because they are trying to break into the market and find that they are only able to compete on price.

But, as they say, “Buyer beware”. You get what you pay for. Getting good help for anything you need done is the same. Do not be sold a dream. As I tell the clients I see, “Dreaming is free.”

Find a registered professional who understands your needs and can with you toward your goals.

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Berto Volpentesta provides these articles free of charge to a number of publications who decide on their own whether to publish the material. Have a question? Send them to Berto Volpentesta or to the editor.
Berto Volpentesta of Cannex Immigration Specialists has been a practicing consultant in Toronto since 1991 and is a Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants (also past Secretary and past Director as well as current Executive Director) and a Member of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants. You can reach him at: (416) 398 8882 or (416) 787 0612 or by email at berto@canneximmigration.com and on the web at www.canneximmigration.com.