Ten Questions To Ask Before Hiring An Immigration Consulting Service

There are a couple of aspects of an immigration company that you have to consider before working with them to make sure you are in good hands. Make sure the company has a reputation for assisting people, read the testimonials of others who worked through the process, go through the pricing and check out the website so you can make a more informed decision.

If you were working on the immigration process by yourself in the past, it may be a wise idea to consider working with a professional. If they were in the same line of work for some time, the experience they come with, and the number of people they got through the process would assist with getting others through as well. A reputed company is ideal to work with because they would be thorough with processes which meant clients have a template to follow. On the flip side, if there were people who could not get their paperwork to match the template, they would be told at the start that it seems unlikely that they would get their visas.

1. Is your company a professional immigration company with Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) working for me?
There is a lot of paperwork that a company that is getting people into Canada needs to have. They need to be registered with the proper authorities and make sure they have the correct licenses to get through the process. More than a website, people would need proof of concept where they would be able to see the other people who got through the process so they know who they can work with and whether they can trust the company. 

2. How many experiences do you have?
The first couple of people working with any immigration company might have a tougher process to get through because the company is getting their feet in the sand and working on processes internally to make it easier for the rest who follow. After working through the first few people, they learn about the requirements in greater detail and would know what matters and what doesn't so they can better organize how they are going to get through the processes.

3. Is there an Initial consultant meeting?
Most companies have an online presence, and it feels scary to talk and work with someone you have not met. Many clients want to have a meeting to put a face to the person they are communicating with and would then be in a better position to take the call on working with us. Through the pandemic, we worked on handling these meetings online through Zoom and other platforms, and we found that it helps ease the clients.

4. What is the charge for the initial consultant meeting?
Clients should be informed about the cost of a meeting and the entire process right at the get-go so that they are not caught off guard at a later point. Additionally, some companies have varying systems when it comes to the costing, which clients should be informed of.

5. How much is the service fee?
Similar to the previous question, prices and costs are questions that people sometimes find awkward to ask, so they dance around. The challenge becomes when they are not addressed, and people are unsure how to respond to them at a later point in time.

6. Where is your company?
The location also plays an important part when it comes to working with immigration companies. Making sure the company is in the country where a person is looking to move is a positive. Many online companies are located globally, and working with them can be challenging because they might not be trustworthy or did not do enough to prove that you can trust them.

7. What is the strength of your company?
Most people are likely to trust a company that has more staff than just one or two people. Companies with a few people are rarely trusted because they can shut and leave, but if there are many employees, the process would be a lot more challenging, so they are perceived as likely to stay around longer.

8. Is there an RCIC who is handling my case all the time? Who should I talk to directly through the process?
While there are multiple people within an immigration consultancy company who are coordinating the process, not everyone can end up having their documents coordinated by one person because they have to work on multiple. A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant works on several people at a time, so they usually have their hands full but are happy to assist with the process to get them over the line.

9. After reading my resume and understanding my background, what is your advice?
Very often, people working on the immigration process have no idea what the next steps should be and they are only asking for advice. When it comes to moving to another country, there is a lot of information that they would need, and they need a trusted team to provide it, otherwise, they could be moving to another country for no reason, and that would not make a lot of sense at all. 

10. Is there a Plan B for my application?
After creating a process, most people who do not have all the requirements or have some missing documents ask for the consultation company to push their applications and hope that they get through. However, to make plans for the off chance that they do not, they usually ask the questions about their backup plans when it seems likely that the first one would fail. With the overall application process taking some time to get through, people usually consider having a backup plan so they can begin working on one to pivot if the first one doesn't work.

As an immigration firm, we at Springwind Immigration Consulting Service Inc. help prospective international students and immigrants come to Canada to study, work, live and settle. We offer guidance and knowledge, and when the process gets challenging, we work with our clients to find a way to simplify it or handle the process on their behalf. We provide them with a list of services, and if you would like an understanding of the services that we provide, please click here. If you want to get in touch with us, please click here.