Do I need a Representative?

If you were purchasing your first home, would it not be prudent for you to use the services of a real estate lawyer to review all of the related paperwork so that there were no unforeseen "surprises" when you took possession of the property? Likewise, if you intended on purchasing a business, would you not consider using the services of a corporate lawyer before signing your name on any documents to ensure that your rights are protected? The answer to both questions would probably be "yes". Why, then, should the answer be any different when deciding whether to use the services of a Canadian immigration consultant to help you to immigrate to Canada?

The decision to uproot yourself and in some cases your family from your home country and establish yourself in Canada is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make in your life. Given the investment of time, resources and emotion that the Canada immigration process entails, you may want the professional assistance of a Canadian immigration Consultant to ensure that the process is as easy, straightforward, flawless and expedient as possible.

What are your fees?

The stakes are high. Immigrating to Canada is too serious a decision to come down to a question of money. Our fees should not be the biggest issue for you. First consider whether we offer you the best chance for success and the best representation. Some clients reduce the issue down to money because they don't know what is most important for their success. They do not understand that an applicant whose application was rejected most likely will never prove that rejection was a mistake. He or she may apply again but the new application will be stained by prior refusal. Denials are more likely the second time around. Appeals of denials are expensive and can take years. We prefer to prevent problems, not fix them. We are proactive, not reactive. Fixing a problem is expensive, difficult and often impossible. Cutting corners stimulates higher fees in the long run. Our goal is to do it right the first time, even if we have to work harder, because the stakes are high.

In most cases, we require a Retainer for every new matter. A retainer is a form of deposit. It is placed into our trust account, in your name, and used as a credit that, in most cases, is applied to your final account. The amount of the retainer depends on the specifics of your situation. As your file progresses, we incur disbursements - out-of-pocket expenses - on your behalf. These can include registration or filing fees, fees for experts/reports, photocopying charges, long-distance telephone charges, special postage or courier fees, parking, and transportation costs. If we are required to travel out of town on your behalf, you will also be charged traveling and accommodation costs.

When you retain our services, you are contracting for our time, experience, and breadth of professional expertise. Our general policy is to charge for the time we spend providing you with the services you require. Sometimes - particularly for more routine work - we can accurately estimate how much time will be involved in a matter. In this case, we may be able to quote you a fixed fee.

Is it cheaper if we do it ourselves?

When deciding whether to do it yourself, evaluate the importance of your immigration matter. What's important to you are results. No matter how inexpensive, without positive results, the outcome will be costly. Your professional and family considerations should govern the decision - immigration can determine the choice of profession and degree of success in one's professional life, as well as immigration can impact the future of immediate family and descendants for generations.

Nevertheless, we inform some of our clients that their immigration route is relatively simple. We advise them that it is in their best interest to file the particular application on their own. We also offer you to go over your application papers before you submit them to the Canadian authorities and make sure that all the information is complete and correct.

Why to pay in advance?

It is common to bill in advance. All advance payments will be put into a special trust account and we are only allowed to take money out of that account according to the progress of the work performed. CSIC - our regulator - can at any point in time demand to have a look at our trust account and check whether we adhere to that policy.

It is not simply a matter of credit risk, at a small, specialized firm it is even more important. We cannot spread out expenditures over many clients. As a small, specialized firm, we are working on important business and professional matters. We are working intensively, over short periods of time, on select time sensitive matters. We are dependent on a few matters to cover our operating expenses. Advance payment avoids financing our receivables - costs that would otherwise pass on to you. Advance payment represents a commitment. In many organizations authorizing a payable invokes a formal decision making process committing all parties to a course of action. Advance payment prevents delay. Immigration processing requires government fees and incidental costs which we must pay on short notice.