■ IRCC, ICCRC, RCIC, CAPIC & Commissioner for Taking Affidavits

Written by Liang Lee, RCIC, EE Immigration

One may wonder what these acronyms stand for and what/who they are? What does it relate to a person who is interested in immigrating to, working and studying in Canada? I will explain them to you one by one.

IRCC

First, the IRCC. Most people already heard and knew about it. If you don’t, chances are you are in your infant stage connecting your relationship with Canada. IRCC stands for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada which is a federal ministry in charge of all kinds of citizenship, permanent/ temporary residency programs (PR, work permit, study permit and etc.) and refugee/protected person programs. Any foreign national who wants to visit to and enter the Canadian soils would need to deal with this governmental body one way or the other.

ICCRC

Second, the ICCRC. Although it looks/sounds like IRCC, it differs a lot between the two. ICCRC is the acronym for Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council which is the national regulatory body that protects the public from frauds by overseeing regulated immigration and citizenship consultants and international student advisors. In a nutshell, it protects anybody who hires a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC, we will address this term in a later paragraph) for all sorts of professional advice and application proceeding. For those who are using a legal representative (licensed in Canada by the ICCRC), you would sleep better because you are working with an authentic immigration consultant, not an agent or a unlicensed person/company. For some parts of the world where a lot of people showing interest in Canada, mis-representation and ill-advice are common problems owing to a lack of awareness for the ICCRC’s role in public protection.

RCIC

RCIC means the Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant. The term refers to a person, not an organization. As we all know that, each country outside Canada has a lot of immigration companies who are comprised of quite a few immigration consultants. To be clear, they are not RCIC’s by all means unless they are qualified, passing the exams, licensed and regulated by the Canadian government. In order to be an RCIC, one has to complete an immigration practitioner diploma program in a designated university; he or she needs to prove having at least CLB 9 language capacity (equivalent to 7.5 score under IELTS academy module); also has to pass the entry-to-practice professional exam.

CAPIC

Most people don’t know CAPIC, but that’s fine, you will know it in a second. This is a non-profits organization called Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants. CAPIC is known for insiders – who are professionals providing immigration services. Unlike the ICCRC, whose rules are mainly regulating (sometimes even disciplining) the RCIC’s, the CAPIC is a “by and for” the RCIC organization. Any person who is a member of CAPIC has to be a licensed practitioner, an RCIC so to speak. He or she also needs to pay an annual membership fee in order to stay in this professional body. When you see an RCIC who is a part of this group, chances are he or she is a keen and passionate learner who wants to stay abreast of the immigration law, regulations and best practices which are ever-changing. CAPIC has a public forum for its members who can ask, answer and share any problems that are asked by their daily practices.

Commissioner for Taking Affidavits

Let’s turn to the Commissioner for Taking Affidavits (sometimes referred to as a Commissioner of Oaths). A Commissioner of this type is a person who takes affidavits or declarations by asking you to swear or affirm that what is in a document is true. In another word, this person can verify that signatures, marks and copies of documents when there are needs. In the province of Ontario where my company locates, they’re regulated under the Commissioners for taking Affidavits Act. Every lawyer in Ontario is also automatically a commissioner for taking affidavits. Although I am not a lawyer myself, I am qualified to be a commissioner in Ontario as long as I am an RCIC. I became a commissioner for this role in 2019.

The last thing I want to talk about, is that I am the founder of this company, which is a federally registered Canadian corporation in the city of Toronto, Ontario. We also have an affiliate office in Taipei, Taiwan, where is the place I am from before I became a Canadian citizen. I am an RCIC, a member in good standing with both the ICCRC and the CAPIC, I am also a commissioner for taking affidavits in Ontario. What I normally do, is something that you are not likely do-it-by-yourself, or something difficult for you to do-it-by-yourself, such as: dealing with refused applications – no matter they are from your PR, work permit or study permit applications; I know how to ask for re-considerations for your case, or appealing your case to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). I encourage you do your homework and try to apply for your desired program by yourself first. Without doing so, you will not know the value of my profession, which is to solve problems in a complicated system by being guided from a solid understanding of the legal framework.

Please go to the CONTACT page to get in touch with us.