An RCIC is not a substitute for an immigration lawyer. There are matters we can’t handle, not because we choose not to, but because they fall outside the scope of practice defined by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. This page is our public commitment to telling you that, before you book.
Most Canadian immigration consultancies don’t have a page like this. We do because we’d rather lose your retainer than your trust, and because being honest about scope is the most useful thing we can do for someone whose case might not fit us.
A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant is licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under federal authority (the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act). Our scope is defined by the regulator. We can:
Five categories of work are outside our scope, full stop. If your case requires any of these, you need different counsel.
For any of these we will refuse the retainer and refer you. No referral fee changes hands either way. CICC Code prohibits it.
Appeals from refused outland spousal sponsorships, removal orders, residency obligation findings, and other appealable IRCC decisions. The IAD is an IRB tribunal. RCICs without IRB-specialty licensing cannot represent here. Lawyer or IRB-licensed RCIC required.
Refugee claim hearings (RPD) and refugee appeals (RAD). These are protection matters under the IRPA. Standard-licensed RCICs cannot represent at either. Lawyer or IRB-specialty RCIC required.
Detention reviews, admissibility hearings, and other ID matters. Critical, time-sensitive work where a person’s liberty or immigration status hangs in the balance. Lawyer required.
Judicial review of any IRCC, IRB, or Service Canada decision. Stay motions. All Federal Court proceedings, full stop. Only lawyers can appear before the Federal Court. Lawyer required.
Serious criminal inadmissibility findings, ongoing criminal proceedings, and matters involving criminal lawyers in parallel. We can handle simple historical criminal rehabilitation; serious or current matters require a lawyer.
Some matters are not clearly RCIC or lawyer work. H&C applications with parallel removal orders, certain TRPs, files with prior misrepresentation findings, and complex inadmissibility cases. We’ll triage on the consultation call and refer if needed.
The CICC Code of Professional Conduct, Section 13, prohibits referral fees between Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants and other professionals, both paying them and receiving them. This applies to lawyer referrals, RCIC-to-RCIC referrals, employer agreements, and third-party arrangements.
This is why our referrals work the way they do. When we send you to a lawyer:
This means our incentives align with the right answer for you. We don’t push you to a lawyer unnecessarily (no commission to earn). We don’t keep work we shouldn’t take (no loss vs commission scenario).
Different files need different lawyers. We help you find the right one rather than push you toward whichever firm is closest to us.
The Law Society of Ontario operates a free, public referral service. You describe your immigration issue, they connect you with an LSO-licensed lawyer for an initial 30-minute consultation at no cost. Best starting point if you don’t already have a lawyer in mind.
lso.ca/public-resources/lawyer-referral-service
For refugee claims, RAD appeals, pre-removal risk assessment files, and other refugee-specialty work. CARL maintains a directory of lawyers who focus on this practice. Always retain a refugee-specialty lawyer for refugee work, never an RCIC.
carl-acaadr.ca
The CBA Immigration Law Section directory lists practicing immigration lawyers across Canada by specialty. Federal Court, IAD, IRB, removal, corporate immigration, and more. Useful if you know what kind of file you have but not who to call.
cba.org/sections/immigration-law
Our approach: when your file needs a lawyer, we’ll walk you through which of the three directories above fits your situation, what to ask in the initial consultation, and how to verify a lawyer’s standing on the LSO public register. We don’t collect referral fees from any lawyer, the CICC Code prohibits it both ways, so our incentive is to point you at the right counsel, not whichever one would pay us back.
Outland spousal sponsorship refusals carry a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD). The IAD is an IRB tribunal where standard-licensed RCICs cannot represent. You need a lawyer or IRB-specialty counsel for the appeal itself.
What we can do: pull the GCMS notes through our Refusal Diagnostic, write up the strategy memo, and refer you to one of the lawyers in our network. If after the lawyer’s advice you decide to reapply rather than appeal, we can handle the reapplication.
Maybe, maybe not. PR refusals can be challenged at the Federal Court through judicial review (a leave-to-appeal procedure with strict 15-day deadlines for inland decisions, 60-day for outland). But many PR refusals are better handled by reapplication with rebuilt evidence.
The Refusal Diagnostic will tell you which. If Federal Court is the right path, we refer you to a lawyer. If reapplication is the right path, we can handle it ourselves.
Refugee claims go before the Refugee Protection Division (RPD), an IRB tribunal. Standard RCICs cannot represent at the RPD. Refugee work is some of the most complex and consequential immigration work in Canada, people’s lives depend on it.
We refer all refugee claims to refugee-specialty lawyers. Do not retain an RCIC for a refugee claim, including from “agents” who claim they can help with this.
Detention reviews happen at the Immigration Division (ID). You need a lawyer immediately, detention reviews have statutory timelines and serious consequences. Family members can contact us and we will connect them with qualified counsel on an emergency basis.
It depends on the offence and how recent. A single non-serious conviction more than five years ago, with everything fully disclosed and documented, is RCIC scope, we handle these regularly.
Recent serious convictions, multiple convictions, ongoing criminal proceedings, or anything involving misrepresentation of criminal history needs a lawyer. We will triage on the consultation call.
Humanitarian and Compassionate applications are within RCIC scope, we file these. The complication is when an H&C is filed alongside an existing removal order or as a stay motion. Removal-order matters and stay motions require Federal Court counsel.
If your H&C is being filed for affirmative reasons (establishment in Canada, best interests of children, hardship), we can handle it. If it’s defensive against an active removal, you likely need a lawyer for the parallel work.
$200 for a 1-hour consultation, $135 for 30 minutes, $85 for 15 minutes. Even if the consultation ends with “you need a lawyer, here’s who,” the consultation itself is worth the fee. You get a triage decision in writing.
I personally take on a limited number of files each month, supported by paralegal and document staff. To do that work well, we are explicit about cases outside our scope. The following are situations where we refer to lawyers or specialized counsel rather than taking the retainer ourselves.
Referral to outside counsel is part of every consultation where appropriate. We do not collect referral fees.