Dubai-based legal advisers welcomed Canada's move to set up a regulatory body for immigration consultants saying there have been cases in the UAE in the past in which people have been cheated.
Helene Mathieu told Gulf News that the cases involved people who had taken money from immigration hopefuls and run away. The UAE took measures some years ago because it had received a lot of complaints, she said, referring to a previous ban on advertisements by consultants.
Canada announced recently that starting in April, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration will only deal with paid consultants or lawyers who are members of a newly formed body called the Canadian Society for Immigration Consultants (CSIC).
Asked how this body differs from the Organisation of Professional Immigration Consultants (OPIC), she said consultants will now have to undergo tests to become members. "For the embassy to recognise you, the company will have to be registered with the new body."
Consultants could become members of OPIC, but its laws were not mandatory. Ben Trister, chairman of CSIC, was quoted as saying: "It's the wild west out there. If you want to be a consultant, you just print up a business card and you can be a consultant."
Mathieu said if anyone has a claim against a lawyer, you can file a complaint at the Bar, implying that there was no body where you could file a complaint against an immigration consultant.
Canadian Immigration Minister Denis Coderre was quoted as saying CSIC will "provide protection to vulnerable applicants" and increase public confidence in the country's immigration programme.
Fadil Ibrahim, an advocate, said there was a need for the industry to be monitored and regulated. "Check out the cases in the Dubai courts," he said.
R. Kapur of Al Banna International, said this should have been done long ago. He said since many people in India and Pakistan are not literate, it was easy for consultants to cheat them.
"People are ready to pay big bucks to be smuggled in," he said, speaking of easy pickings in such a scenario, where there is a "glamour of going abroad".
The CSIC is basically being set up to curtail such illegal practices in China and India, which sends the largest number of immigrants to Canada.
A. B. Ramachandran, director of Vision Immigration Services, said: "Our people (Indians and Pakistanis) need proper guidance. They don't wish to go back home to their mother country. They want a third option." He said many people offer tens of thousands to somehow get into Canada. "Our advice is don't go there illegally."
Measures to protect applicants
* Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration will only deal with members of Canadian Society for Immigration Consultants (CSIC) from April.
* CSIC will "provide protection to vulnerable applicants" and increase public confidence in the country's immigration programme.
* Immigration consultants will now have to undergo tests to become members.
* CSIC will set up a fund for victims of fraud.
Move to curb migration fraud hailed
Dubai-based legal advisers welcomed Canada's move to set up a regulatory body for immigration consultants saying there have been cases in the UAE in the past in which people have been cheated.