Lawyer or consultant: who can represent you

Canadian law limits who can represent you, for a fee, in an immigration procedure. The list is short: lawyers, Quebec notaries, and licensed immigration consultants. Everyone else — including well-meaning helpers who charge for it — is acting illegally. This guide explains the differences, and how to verify anyone before trusting them with your file.

What the law says

Section 91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) defines who may, for payment, advise or represent you in an immigration matter: members of a provincial or territorial bar (lawyers), members of the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and immigration and citizenship consultants licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). A person outside these categories who charges you for immigration advice is committing an offence — and, more practically, has no status to act in your procedures.

Lawyer and consultant: the real differences

Both lawyers and licensed consultants can legally represent you before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) — including the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) — and in applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The differences that matter:

• The Federal Court. Only a lawyer can represent you at the Federal Court. Consultants cannot appear there. If your case may end in judicial review — and refused claims, refused Pre-Removal Risk Assessments (PRRA) and removal cases often do — a consultant cannot take you to the end of the road.
• Training and oversight. Lawyers complete a law degree and are governed by a bar — in Quebec, the Barreau du Québec — with its own rules of ethics, mandatory professional liability insurance, and a discipline process. Consultants are governed by the CICC under a separate regime.
• Professional secrecy. Communications with a lawyer are protected by professional secrecy, a protection recognized at the highest level in Canadian law.

None of this means every consultant does poor work. It means the two licences do not open the same doors, and your file should be matched to the doors it may need. A refugee file that starts calmly can end at the Federal Court within a year; choosing representation is partly a bet on where your file might go, not only on where it is today.

How to verify anyone — including me

Never rely on a business card. Verification takes two minutes and is free:

• A lawyer in Quebec: search the roll of the Barreau du Québec (the Tableau de l'Ordre) by name. Other provinces' bars have equivalent public registers.
• A consultant: search the CICC public register by name or licence number.
• A Quebec notary: search the register of the Chambre des notaires.

If the person is not in any register, they cannot lawfully charge you for immigration services. Check also that the name on the register matches the name signing your forms — your forms must disclose your representative.

Warning signs, stated factually

Some patterns come up again and again in the files I repair afterwards: a representative who will not put their full name on your application; who makes promises about the result; who asks you to sign blank forms; who tells you a hearing does not require preparation; or who is unreachable once a refusal arrives. None of these is normal in a regulated professional relationship.

If you were badly represented

If a previous representative's conduct damaged your file, tell your new lawyer everything and keep every document, message and receipt. In some procedures, incompetent representation can itself become a legal argument — there is a formal protocol for raising it — and regulators accept complaints. It is repair work, but it exists.

Where I fit

I am a lawyer, a member of the Barreau du Québec, and an authorized representative under IRPA section 91 — verifiable in the Barreau's public roll. My practice covers the full road: the IRB, applications to IRCC, and the Federal Court. If you are comparing your options, verify everyone on the list first, whatever you decide afterwards.

If you are unsure about a representative — past or prospective — bring the question to a consultation. Let's talk about it.