Canada to create a new regulatory body for immigration consultants

Canadian immigration authorities may create a new body that will be responsible for governing and regulating the work of immigration consultants and ensure their professional conduct. On April 8, 2019, a bill to create a new body – College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants – was introduced for the first reading in the Parliament. The current regulator is a self-regulating Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), which was established in 2011. There are almost 5,000 immigration consultants in Canada and recently there were many big cases of scum and fraud where consultants were involved. The recent investigation by the Global and Mail regarding immigration scams in Canada showed the depth of the problem with fraud in the immigration field. In response to that, the Federal government hopes to create a government-controlled department to regulate immigration consultants.