1. What is the licensed practitioner’s name and on which regulator’s register do they appear?
Immigration licences attach to individual practitioners, not to firms. CICC for Canada, MARA for Australia, IAA or SRA-regulated solicitor for the UK, ABA-NYSBA-licensed attorney for the US. The right answer names a specific person and points you at a specific regulator. If a consultancy answers "the firm is licensed", that is not how regulator licensing works - and it is the single most common red flag.
How Cosmos answers: the named regulated associate working on your case appears on your engagement letter, with a direct link to that regulator’s public register. Verify our credentials.
2. Will you give me the practitioner’s name in writing before I pay?
Yes is the only acceptable answer. The name appears on the engagement letter and the regulator’s register link is in the same letter, so you can verify before any fee is taken. A firm that resists naming the practitioner in writing - "we will tell you after you pay" - has a structural problem.
3. What is the published fee structure?
Ask for it in writing. Fixed fees per stage, with each stage tied to a specific deliverable. The "all-in package" quote given on the first phone call is a sales hook - the firm cannot honestly know the right pathway, and therefore the right fee, until it has reviewed your profile.
How Cosmos answers: three stages, each with a fixed fee. Profile review (paid, written), file-build, submission. See the structure.
4. What does the fee not include?
Government application fees. Language tests. Educational-credential assessments. Medicals. Translations. Settlement services after arrival. Tax advice. Any consultancy that bundles these into a single "package" number is making it harder for you to track real costs - usually because the markup is in the bundling.
5. What is your refund policy?
Refusal of an application does not, by itself, trigger a refund. The work of preparing and submitting a properly evidenced file is delivered whether the officer approves or refuses. What should be refundable is unused stage-fee tranches if you withdraw before that work is done. Get this in writing - in the engagement letter, signed before any payment.
6. How do I file a complaint if something goes wrong?
The named practitioner’s regulator publishes a complaint procedure. CICC, MARA, IAA and ABA-NYSBA each have one. The firm should also publish an internal escalation contact. If neither exists, treat it as a serious red flag.
How Cosmos answers: internal escalation goes to customerservice [at] cosmosimmigration [dot] com. Same-business-day acknowledgement, 48-hour internal-resolution target. The regulator’s complaint procedure remains separately available throughout.
7. Will you put your published "success rate" in writing?
No legitimate firm will put a percentage figure ("98% success", "guaranteed approval") in writing because it isn’t verifiable and the regulators routinely act against firms that publish such claims. The honest answer is profile-by-profile: your case will be assessed against the published criteria for the chosen pathway, and the assessment will tell you which criteria you meet today and which would need additional work.
8. Are you giving me legal advice or general information?
Regulated immigration advice for Canada, Australia, the UK and the US can only be given by individuals authorised under the relevant regulator. "General information" is allowed - any website can publish it - but if the firm is making profile-specific recommendations, those recommendations must come from a regulated practitioner whose name and licence appear on the engagement letter.
9. How will my data be handled under UAE PDPL?
The firm should be able to explain its lawful basis for processing your data, where the data is stored, who at the firm has access, and your rights to access, correct and erase. "We use a CRM" is not an answer. UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 (PDPL) Article 24 gives you specific rights and the firm’s privacy notice should reference them.
10. Why is your office on a Dubai address with no physical presence?
Some Dubai consultancies operate purely as marketing fronts, redirecting all real work to overseas back-offices that are not regulated for immigration advice in your destination country. Ask which named, regulated practitioner sits at which physical address - and verify with a visit. Cosmos has four offices across the UAE, GCC, India and Sri Lanka, with named practitioners attached to each engagement.
