57 Chinese immigrant applications were rejected because the applicants did not disclose that they had hired Flyaboard, a Beijing-based, immigration consultant firm that is not duly registered. All the 57 applications rejected by immigration officials on the grounds of misrepresentation. This was simply due to the fact that they had hired “ghost consultants” to help them file the applications.
Reasons For Reconsideration
According to one of the lawyers that represented the Chinese applicants, the immigration officials were wrong to go after the clients. The crackdown on ghost consultants should affect the unregistered consultancy firm and not the clients. The registration of all immigration consultants is set aside to protect clients. Hence, the government is making an unfair move by punishing clients instead of going after the unregistered consultants. Some of the clients even claimed that they had only hired the firm to help them in translation and clerical services and not for their immigration advice.
According to the spokesman of Flyaboard, the immigration officials treated clients with disrespect and did not quote the immigration law appropriately when rejecting their applications. He claimed that the consultancy firm only provides clerical services and translation as well as document preparation and notarization.
What The Law Requires
The Canadian law requires that only licensed immigration lawyers and consultants can offer immigration advice at a fee. Other than their applications being rejected on grounds of misrepresentation, each applicant who used Flyaboard was declared inadmissible to Canada for 5 years. There were questions on whether the clients were truthful when asked about their knowledge of Flyabroad. Some clients claimed that they only hired the consultancy firm for translation and clerical services.
The judge ruling this case emphasized that it is important for clients to ensure they use authorized consultants for immigration advice.
