Ottawa introduces new regulations for immigration and citizenship consultants

Canada is tightening oversight of immigration and citizenship consultants in a move aimed at reducing legal, financial and reputational risks for employers and HR teams that rely on third‑party advisers to support foreign workers and recruits.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has introduced new regulations, to take effect on July 15, 2026, that are intended to “strengthen protections for people seeking immigration and citizenship advice by improving access to trustworthy, quality representation.” The measures will enhance the powers of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), the national regulator of licensed consultants.

“These changes reflect our commitment to protecting applicants from fraud and misconduct, and to supporting a system where consultants are held to high standards,” says Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Employers that regularly employ temporary foreign workers need to shift immigration law compliance into the spotlight of human resources practices, according to one expert.

Stronger enforcement, governance safeguards

Under the changes, the College will be able to strengthen its complaints and discipline process, including imposing higher penalties on consultants who break the rules, and will operate under clarified rules for investigating misconduct. The intent is to ensure that cases of fraud or unprofessional behaviour are handled more consistently and effectively across the profession.

The measures also establish guidelines for the College’s compensation fund, which is intended to compensate people who suffer financial loss because of dishonest acts by consultants. This framework may be particularly relevant for employers that help pay for immigration services for staff or recruits, by creating a clearer path to redress if funds are misused or if services paid for are not delivered.

Beginning in April 2027, the College will be required to publish more information on its public register of licensed consultants, which IRCC says is intended “to increase transparency and protect the public from unauthorized representatives.” The enhanced register should give employers and HR teams more detail to verify that advisers are properly licensed and in good standing before assigning them sensitive immigration work.

The regulations also introduce new reporting requirements for the College to improve transparency around how it oversees consultants and enforces standards. More regular and detailed reporting is expected to give stakeholders, including employers that rely on immigration advisers, a clearer view of trends in discipline, complaints and regulatory outcomes.

In addition, the federal government is giving the minister responsible the power to appoint someone to take over board duties if the College’s board fails to meet its responsibilities, adding a governance backstop to maintain effective regulation. 

Recently, Alberta’s Ministry of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration introduced Bill 26, the Immigration Oversight Act. The legislation is framed as a response to the federal government’s “loss of control over immigration,” which Alberta argues has contributed to “unsustainable population growth, pressure on public services and cases of abuse by bad actors.”

According to the CICC, there were 12,264 regulated Canadian immigration consultants (RCICs) as of June 30, 2024. In total, 626 were newly licensed between July 2023 and June 2024.

The CICC also noted that the government has shut down 2,246 unauthorised‑practitioner websites and social media pages in 2024. Also, there were over 3,000 UAP‑related social media pages that had been taken down as of March 2025, according to the  IRCC.

There was an average of more than 9,000 suspected immigration‑fraud cases investigated per month in 2024.