How to Spot Non-Compliant Immigration Marketing

How do you tell a compliant immigration consultancy from one that isn't? Use the regulators' own rules, not opinion. Canada's licensing body for immigration consultants expressly prohibits guaranteed-approval claims, false or misleading statistics, and implied government ties in marketing. Below is that rule, verbatim, plus a five-minute way to verify any consultant yourself.

Last updated: August 2026 — verified against the Canada Gazette, Part II.

Canada's immigration and citizenship consultants are licensed and governed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Its Code of Professional Conduct for Licensees is published federal regulation — not a voluntary guideline — in the Canada Gazette:

"In marketing immigration or citizenship consulting services, a licensee must not (a) make false, misleading or inaccurate representations; (b) guarantee the success of an application, expression of interest or proceeding; or (c) imply that the licensee has a relationship with the Government of Canada or a provincial government."
— Code of Professional Conduct for Licensees, SOR/2022-128, s.44(2). Source: gazette.gc.ca, also published on the CICC website's Code of Professional Conduct.

Plainly, that means three specific things are off-limits in a licensee's marketing:

• Guarantees are prohibited. No licensee may promise or guarantee the outcome of an application. Immigration approval is a government decision; a consultant does not make it and cannot promise it.
• False or misleading representations are prohibited. That includes statistics, credentials, or affiliations presented in a way that creates an inaccurate impression — not just outright lies.
• Implying a government relationship is prohibited. No licensee may suggest they have a special connection to, or endorsement from, the Government of Canada or a provincial government.

A licensed migration agent in Australia is separately bound by the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA)'s own professional Code of Conduct, verifiable on MARA's public register. Australia's rule is near-identical. Clause 2.10 of the Migration Agents Code of Conduct (Migration (Migration Agents Code of Conduct) Regulations 2021) states that a registered migration agent “must not engage in false or misleading advertising, including advertising in relation to… (c) guaranteeing the success of an application”, and adds a note confirming that “Advertising includes advertising on the Internet.” Clause 2.12 goes further, prohibiting an agent from implying a relationship with the Department or the Authority — including by using phrases such as “Australian Government registered”. Source: the Code of Conduct published by MARA at mara.gov.au, made under Regulations registered on the Federal Register of Legislation (F2021L01856).

This is why the rule matters more than any single business's opinion: it is neutral, third-party, and it comes with real consequence. A licensee who breaches it is answerable to their regulator, not to a marketing argument.

None of the following require you to know anything about any specific firm. Each one is checkable against the rule above, on its own.

1. A guaranteed approval

Why it fails the test: s.44(2)(b) prohibits a licensee from guaranteeing the success of an application. There is no regulatory exception for "we're very confident" phrased as a guarantee. Immigration decisions are made by government officers, not by the consultant filing the case.

What to check instead: ask what happens, in writing, if your specific profile doesn't clear the bar. A consultant who can give you an honest "here's where you fall short" answer is doing the regulated thing. One who can't, or won't, is doing the opposite.

2. A published success percentage

Why it fails the test: a headline success rate is easy to publish and difficult to audit — there's no public standard for how it was calculated, over what case volume, or what counts as a "success." Presented without that context, it risks being exactly the kind of misleading representation s.44(2)(a) is written to catch.

What to check instead: if different pages of the same website show different percentages, that inconsistency is your answer — a real, audited figure doesn't move depending on which page you land on. Ask how the number is calculated and what's excluded.

3. Claimed government approval or connections

Why it fails the test: s.44(2)(c) is direct — a licensee may not imply a relationship with the Government of Canada or a provincial government. There is no such thing as an "IRCC-approved" consultancy; IRCC does not endorse or rank consultants.

What to check instead: "government approved," "official partner," or similar language attached to a private consultancy is a claim you can simply ask the consultant to substantiate — and one the regulation says they shouldn't be making in the first place.

4. A self-published "Top 10" ranking

Why it fails the test: a ranking has no regulator behind it, no audit process, and no consequence for the publisher if it's wrong — because nobody enforces it. That's a structurally different thing from a government register entry, even when it's formatted to look like an authority.

What to check instead: before trusting any "best of" list, check who owns the page. If an immigration consultancy has published a ranking that places itself first, that's the whole finding — the list is marketing, not evaluation.

• No guaranteed outcomes, published or verbal. Immigration decisions are made by government authorities, not by us.
• No success-rate percentage published anywhere on this site. We'd rather you check the register than take a number on faith.
• Honest-answer policy. If your profile doesn't currently meet a pathway's bar, we tell you that, in writing, before you pay for anything.
• A named, registered individual on every regulated file. Cosmos is an immigration consultancy, not a law firm — your file is handled by a named individual registered with CICC (Canada) or MARA (Australia), and you can verify that registration yourself before you sign anything.
• Published costs, not a quote you have to ask for. See Canada PR cost from the UAE for a worked breakdown.
• Everything above is checkable, not asserted. Verify Cosmos on the CICC and MARA public registers using the checklist below.

Cosmos Immigration has operated from Dubai since 2014, completing 10,569 client assessments from offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad, and Oakville, and carries a 4.8-out-of-5 rating across 2,500-plus Google reviews. Every one of those figures is independently checkable — that's the point of this page.

1. Search the CICC register — college-ic.ca/protecting-the-public/find-an-immigration-consultant. Confirm the named individual handling your file is currently licensed, in good standing, and authorised for the service you need.
2. Search the MARA register — portal.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents — for any Australia-bound file, the same way.
3. Check who owns the "review" or "ranking" page. A best-of list published by a company selling the same service it's ranking is marketing, not an independent evaluation.
4. Ask for the named individual, not the company name. CICC and MARA license people, not firms. If a consultancy can't give you a name you can look up yourself on the register, that's the answer to whether they're regulated.
5. Read the marketing against s.44(2). Guarantee, unaudited percentage, or implied government tie — any one of the three is a claim the regulation itself says shouldn't be there.

We'd rather you check us — on the CICC register, the MARA register, and everywhere else — than take our word for any of this. Verify Our Credentials

What does CICC's Code of Professional Conduct say about marketing?

Section 44(2) of the Code of Professional Conduct for Licensees (SOR/2022-128) states that a licensee must not make false, misleading or inaccurate representations, must not guarantee the success of an application, and must not imply a relationship with the Government of Canada or a provincial government, in their marketing. It is published federal regulation in the Canada Gazette, not a voluntary guideline.

Can an immigration consultant guarantee 100% PR approval in Dubai?

No. Canadian regulation expressly prohibits a licensee from guaranteeing the success of an application, and the decision itself is made by government authorities, not the consultant. Any consultancy advertising a guaranteed or 100% approval outcome for a Canada-bound file is advertising something the regulation says it shouldn't.

Are "Top 10 immigration consultant" lists reliable?

Treat them with caution, especially when the list is published by a company that also sells immigration services and ranks itself at the top. A ranking has no regulator behind it, no audit process, and no consequence for the publisher if it's wrong. Before trusting any "best of" list, check who owns the page.

How do I check if an immigration consultant is licensed?

Search the named individual handling your file — not just the company name — on the CICC register (college-ic.ca/protecting-the-public/find-an-immigration-consultant) for Canada, or the MARA register (portal.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents) for Australia. CICC and MARA license individuals, not firms, so the name on your file is what you verify.

Why do some consultants publish success rates?

A headline success percentage is easy to advertise and difficult for a prospective client to audit — there's no public standard for how it was calculated or what's excluded. If different pages of the same site show different percentages, that inconsistency is worth noticing on its own. Under CICC's Code of Professional Conduct, a statistic presented in a misleading way is a marketing representation, not a neutral fact.