College regulations for immigration consultants

Summary#

The Canada Gazette published proposed College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Regulations on December 21, 2024. If adopted, the rules would give the College a detailed framework for licensing, complaints, investigations and a compensation fund that can pay clients who lose money because of a consultant’s dishonest act. The proposal is open for comment for 45 days from publication.

What it does#

• Defines key terms and what counts as a dishonest act (examples include theft, fraud, misappropriation of funds, or knowingly giving false immigration or citizenship information).
• Creates a structured compensation fund:
  • Specifies how the fund is financed (fees, recovered amounts, interest, penalties).
  • Sets when people are eligible for payment and when they must apply.
  • Lets the College step into a compensated person’s legal rights (subrogation) to recover money from a licensee.
  • Allows the College to buy insurance for the fund.
• Sets up or clarifies committees and their roles:
  • Compensation Fund Committee to process and pay compensation and handle emergencies.
  • Capacity Evaluation Committee to assess whether a licensee is fit to practise.
  • Clarifies membership and powers of the Complaints and Discipline Committees.
• Changes how complaints, investigations and evidence are handled:
  • Rules for removing, copying and returning documents during investigations.
  • Rules for when complaints must be referred to discipline (for example, when financial loss from a dishonest act is suspected).
• Expands Registrar powers and possible sanctions:
  • The Registrar can suspend, revoke or impose conditions on licences and issue cautions, reprimands, orders to train, mentorship requirements, or monetary penalties.
  • The draft text includes two different penalty caps in places (see “Who’s affected” for note on inconsistency).
• Public register, reporting and transparency:
  • Specifies more information to appear in the College’s public register (business contact info, licence status, disciplinary measures, etc.).
  • Requires a detailed annual report to the Minister with financials, complaint data and compensation fund details.
• Information sharing and safeguards:
  • Allows disclosure of personal information to law enforcement or regulatory bodies in certain cases, with rules to reduce risk of mistreatment when sharing with foreign entities.
• Minister’s intervention:
  • Gives the Minister the power to appoint someone to run the Board temporarily if the College isn’t carrying out its purposes (appointments limited to one year).
• Estimated costs and modeling:
  • The government’s analysis estimates costs to the College of $24,236,365 (present value) over 10 periods of 12 months to implement the rules, and estimates compensation payments of $5,756,304 (PV) based on 146 payments in year one averaging $4,652 each.
• Timing:
  • The proposed regulations state they would come into force on the day they are registered.

Note: the regulatory text in the Gazette contains inconsistent figures for the maximum monetary penalty (it includes both $30,000 and $50,000 in different places). The source is unclear which number would be final.

Who's affected#

• People who pay for immigration or citizenship advice or representation — including newcomers and applicants — would gain a clearer route to compensation if they suffer financial loss because of dishonest conduct.
• Licence-holders: Regulated consultants, including Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants and Regulated International Student Immigration Advisors, would face stronger oversight, new rules, and possible new costs (investigations, fines, or higher fees to sustain the compensation fund).
• The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants itself would need to run new committees, handle more investigations and manage the compensation fund. The regulatory impact analysis estimates implementation and operating costs (see figures above).
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) would retain oversight and was involved in drafting the proposals.
• Some clients outside Canada could be eligible for compensation; the analysis includes those payments but treats cross-border details as uncertain.
• Small businesses: the analysis in the proposal says Canadian small businesses are not affected.

Why it matters#

• Clients get clearer consumer protection: a formal compensation fund and clearer pathways through complaints and discipline mean people who lose money because of dishonest consultants may be able to recover losses.
• The College gains explicit tools to investigate, discipline and, where needed, recover money — which may improve oversight and public confidence in the profession.
• There are real costs and trade-offs: the College would need to spend millions to run the new system (estimated $24,236,365 PV over the modelled period). If the compensation fund runs short, licensees could face higher fees or other fee changes as a last resort.
• The proposal increases transparency (more public register details and required annual reporting), but the text contains at least one clear inconsistency about the maximum penalty amount (both $30,000 and $50,000 are shown). The Gazette item is a proposal, not final law, and that inconsistency could be clarified before any final rules are made.