After I checked my inbox this morning I discovered a vital e-mail from a corporation of immigration professionals which I belong to.
In actual fact, this e-mail is so essential to my capability to observe immigration legislation that I forwarded it to all of my workers, saved it in our agency’s digital deal with ebook, and printed it for inclusion within the binder that sits on my desk proper by my phone.
But, the reality is that this e-mail makes me really feel like I’m a silent companion in a little bit of a deception being perpetrated on the general public by CIC. Let me clarify.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada clearly takes nice public delight within the quantity of knowledge and sources it offers to the general public by its web site and name centre. CIC boasts that “All of the varieties and knowledge that it’s worthwhile to apply for a visa can be found without cost on this web site.”
Subsequently, it is no marvel that within the web site’s FAQ, the reply to the query: “Do I would like an immigration consultant to assist me apply?” is a “no.”
The general public is advised that “The Authorities of Canada treats everybody equally, whether or not they use a consultant or not.”
Will your case be processed extra shortly in case you rent a consultant? CIC advises that “If you happen to select to rent a consultant, your utility won’t be given particular consideration by the immigration officer.”
Is that this actually true? Is all the data you want actually on the market? Do you want a lawyer? Would it not make any distinction when you have one? Put one other method: are people who find themselves utilizing legal professionals and consultants to deal with their immigration purposes simply throwing away their cash?
I hate answering these questions since doing different folks’s immigration work is how I make my residing. Individuals could be justified in being sceptical about my solutions to those questions.
However the fact is “all the data you want” isn’t actually on the market and, sure, in lots of instances a lawyer or guide’s involvement can spell the distinction between success, delay, or abject failure.
The knowledge at cic.gc.ca is common in nature and can’t probably ponder the infinite factual situations that candidates may current when making use of. Moreover, the brokers on the name centre can’t and don’t present callers with authorized recommendation. It’s merely not of their mandate to take action. As a substitute, they provide “common data on the CIC traces of enterprise… present case particular data, and settle for orders for CIC publications and utility kits.”
In different phrases, they cannot let you know what you ‘ought to’ do when confronted with obstacles or strategic choices to make.
Additionally, in case you encounter an issue that must be escalated, which isn’t unusual, you’ll find valuable little data on the CIC web site as to the place to direct your grievance or query.
Not so with immigration professionals.
The e-mail I acquired this morning is an replace of CIC’s protocol on how immigration professionals ought to direct their queries. The correspondence comprises the e-mail deal with for each Canadian visa submit abroad and the names and e-mail addresses of the immigration program managers at every of these places of work. It tells us how, and to whom, to direct case-specific enquiries to the Case Administration Department in Ottawa and when and the way to comply with up if we don’t obtain a well timed reply. It offers directions on the way to direct communications referring to high quality of service complaints, conditions involving potential misconduct or malfeasance of immigration officers, procedures, operational and choice coverage, and processing occasions and ranges.
To my information, this data isn’t shared with members of the general public. CIC’s failure to publicise this data doesn’t mirror preferential remedy for many who are represented. As a substitute, it’s merely an acknowledgement that immigration professionals do, and have at all times, performed an important function in making an overburdened and under-resourced program perform in any respect (if not perform effectively).
Sharing this data with the general public would lead to an avalanche of correspondence being directed at senior officers who’re unfold out so thinly that they might by no means get another work performed.
It’s true that, besides in distinctive and deserving instances, hiring a lawyer or guide cannot get an utility moved from the again of the road to the entrance of the road. Additionally, an officer won’t approve an applicant who isn’t certified simply because she or he is represented. Nonetheless, additionally it is true that an trustworthy and skilled consultant will not clog up the system by submitting an utility that merely will not fly.
Moreover, professionals who specialize on this space know the method and know the way to keep away from errors that trigger delays. They know the way to sift by mounds of convoluted info and correctly and convincingly doc and current the salient ones so as to set up the premise for the approval of the appliance shortly and effectively.
CIC would not prefer to acknowledge the constructive function legal professionals and consultants play in making its paperwork work for the general public. It’s loath to see us as companions in delivering the immigration plan it’s given yearly by Canada’s immigration minister of the day.
That is okay… this morning’s e-mail is all of the acknowledgement I would like.
