In a number of countries, giving immigration advice or services for a fee is a regulated activity. Anyone doing it must be registered, qualified or legally exempt. This matters for a practical reason beyond legality: a regulated adviser has a complaints body above them, and an unregulated one has nobody.
Where registers exist
- The United Kingdom regulates immigration advisers through a statutory regulator, with solicitors and barristers covered by their own professional bodies.
- Australia maintains a register of migration agents, and legal practitioners are regulated separately.
- New Zealand licenses immigration advisers and publishes the register publicly.
- Canada requires immigration consultants to belong to the national regulatory college, alongside regulated lawyers and notaries.
- The United States restricts representation before immigration authorities to licensed attorneys and accredited representatives.
Each of these registers is searchable online at no cost, and takes a minute. If the person taking your money is not on the relevant register and is not otherwise exempt, that is worth knowing before you pay.
Where no register exists
In markets without a specific immigration-adviser regime — including much of the Gulf — the relevant check is the trade licence: does the company hold one, does it cover this activity, and does the name match the account you are paying? The principle is the same. You are establishing that a real, identifiable, accountable entity is on the other side.
Why it changes your options later
If a registered adviser handles your case badly, there is a regulator who can investigate, order redress and remove them from the register. If an unregistered operator takes your money, your only routes are the criminal one and whatever payment dispute you can raise. That difference is usually invisible when you are choosing, and decisive when something goes wrong.