A consultant you can look up in a public register.
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, only three kinds of people may take a fee to represent you before IRCC: a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, a Canadian lawyer or paralegal in good standing, and a Quebec notary. Everyone else is unauthorized — including "agents," "advisers," and "consultants" who aren't on a register.
Why the restriction exists
Immigration applications carry real consequences — a misfiled form or a misunderstood requirement can mean a refusal that follows you into every future application. The paid-representative restriction exists so that anyone charging a fee for this work is licensed, insured, and answerable to a regulator if something goes wrong.
What licensing actually requires
Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants are licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Becoming licensed means completing an accredited graduate program in immigration and citizenship law, passing an entry-to-practice exam, and carrying mandatory professional liability insurance before taking a single paying client.
How to verify a representative
Before you pay anyone to work on your immigration file, ask for their licence number and check it yourself in the CICC's public register, or confirm a lawyer's standing with their provincial law society. A legitimate representative will expect you to check — it isn't an insult to ask.
What licensing gets you
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Regulated and insured.Licensed consultants carry mandatory professional liability insurance and answer to a formal complaints and discipline process if something goes wrong.
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Accountable in writing.A retainer agreement sets out the scope of work, the fee, and what happens if either side ends the engagement.
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Named on your file.Form IMM 5476 puts your representative on the official record with IRCC, so correspondence about your case has somewhere to go.
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Bound to tell you the truth.The Code of Professional Conduct prohibits guaranteeing results, promising a job offer, or misrepresenting your chances of success.
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A lawyer referral when it's needed.Consultants aren't lawyers and don't appear in Federal Court. A licensed consultant tells you plainly when an appeal or judicial review means you need one, instead of taking a fee for work outside their scope.
Ask for the licence number first.
It takes thirty seconds to check, and it's the single best protection you have before paying anyone for immigration advice.