Immigration News
UK: OISC reconstituted as the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) in October 2024 Canada: ICCRC renamed to the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) — November 2021 Canada: Express Entry category-based selection draws active for healthcare, STEM, trades, transport, agriculture and French-speaking candidates Australia: 482 TSS visa replaced by the Skills in Demand (SID) visa from December 2024 UK: Skilled Worker minimum salary threshold raised to £38,700 from April 2024 UK: Care Worker visa restricted from bringing dependants from March 2024 Canada: federal study-permit cap continued into 2025 with reduced provincial allocations Australia: Migration Strategy released December 2023 — TSMIT raised, planning levels recalibrated Canada: PR pathway adjustments for healthcare workers and French-speaking applicants outside Quebec UK: Graduate Route retained following the Migration Advisory Committee review of May 2024 USA: visa appointment wait times publicly posted by each US embassy at travel.state.gov Identity-fraud alert: cloned consultancy sites continue to circulate with stolen licence numbers — verify by name on the regulator's official register UK: OISC reconstituted as the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) in October 2024 Canada: ICCRC renamed to the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) — November 2021 Canada: Express Entry category-based selection draws active for healthcare, STEM, trades, transport, agriculture and French-speaking candidates Australia: 482 TSS visa replaced by the Skills in Demand (SID) visa from December 2024 UK: Skilled Worker minimum salary threshold raised to £38,700 from April 2024 UK: Care Worker visa restricted from bringing dependants from March 2024 Canada: federal study-permit cap continued into 2025 with reduced provincial allocations Australia: Migration Strategy released December 2023 — TSMIT raised, planning levels recalibrated Canada: PR pathway adjustments for healthcare workers and French-speaking applicants outside Quebec UK: Graduate Route retained following the Migration Advisory Committee review of May 2024 USA: visa appointment wait times publicly posted by each US embassy at travel.state.gov Identity-fraud alert: cloned consultancy sites continue to circulate with stolen licence numbers — verify by name on the regulator's official register

A note from the founder

The honest answer to "Are they really licensed?"

Regulator licences in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States attach to individual practitioners — not to firms. CICC, MARA, IAA and the New York State Bar all license people, one by one, by name. Cosmos works with named, licensed associates in each jurisdiction; the licence is theirs, the verification is yours.

I am Jafar Syed, founder and CEO of Cosmos Immigration. We do not publish associate licence numbers on this site. We do something better — we name the licensed associate handling your case on your engagement letter, and we link you to the four official registers below where you confirm that named individual yourself. Search by name on the regulator's site is the verification regulators themselves recommend.

— Jafar Syed, Founder & CEO

Our policy

Why we don't publish licence numbers on the website

A number on a webpage is just a number. The question that protects you is whether the consultant appears on the regulator's public register today.

1. Licences belong to individuals, not firms

CICC, MARA, IAA and the New York State Bar all license practitioners by name. Cosmos as a firm does not hold a CICC, MARA, IAA or ABA-NYSBA licence number to publish — the licences are held by the named associates working on your case. Publishing their personal registration numbers on a public webpage is not ours to do.

2. Identity-fraud risk on the numbers that do exist

Where individual licence numbers do appear publicly, they are routinely harvested by scammers who clone consultancy websites with stolen numbers and stolen names. Every consultancy that publishes a licensee's number in plain text increases the cloning surface for the entire industry.

3. Verification is what matters, not the number itself

Anyone can put any number on a webpage. The question that protects you is: "Does the named associate on my Cosmos engagement letter actually appear on the regulator's public register today?" That answer is one search away on each regulator's site.

We publish our office addresses, phone numbers, founder name and Khaleej Times-recognised features openly. The named associate and their licence detail belong on your engagement letter, where regulators expect them to appear, and on the regulator's register, which is the one place that cannot be faked.

Verify on the official register

Four jurisdictions. Four registers. Search by name.

Each card opens the regulator's official search page in a new tab. Type the named associate from your Cosmos engagement letter. Read what the regulator says.

Canada

CICC — College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants

Register Live

Federal regulator that licenses individual Canadian immigration consultants. Renamed from ICCRC in November 2021. Licences attach to named practitioners (RCIC or RISIA), not to firms.

Search for: the named CICC-registered associate listed on your Cosmos engagement letter — full legal name. Returns the individual's active registration status, registration class (RCIC, RISIA), and any disciplinary record.

What you should see: active registration in good standing of the named individual on your engagement letter. If the engagement letter does not name a CICC-registered associate for a Canadian matter, do not sign — call the founder directly.

Open CICC register
Australia

MARA — Migration Agents Registration Authority

Register Live

Regulator that licenses individual Australian migration agents. Paid migration assistance is restricted by the Migration Act 1958 to MARA-registered agents, lawyers with immigration endorsement, and certain exempt categories — all individuals. The MARN is held by a person, not a firm.

Search for: the named MARA-registered associate listed on your Cosmos engagement letter.

What you should see: an active MARN (Migration Agent Registration Number) under the named individual's name. If your engagement letter does not name a MARA agent with their MARN, that is itself a flag — we name the registered associate on every Australian engagement letter.

Open MARA register
United Kingdom

IAA — Immigration Advice Authority

Register Live

UK regulator that licenses individual immigration advisers. Replaced the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) in October 2024. Solicitors (SRA), barristers (BSB), and chartered legal executives (CILEx Regulation) are also authorised — every authorisation route is held by a named individual.

Search for: the named IAA-registered adviser listed on your Cosmos engagement letter.

What you should see: the individual's active registration at the appropriate level (Level 1, 2 or 3) for the type of UK advice their work covers. Where a case requires advice beyond the registered level, we coordinate with a UK solicitor or barrister and disclose that on the engagement letter.

Open IAA register on GOV.UK
United States

NYSBA — New York State Bar Association

Register Live

US immigration legal advice is restricted to attorneys licensed by a state bar — a personal admission, not a firm registration. Cosmos's US-side work is handled in partnership with named attorneys admitted to the New York State Bar Association.

Search for: the named US attorney listed on your Cosmos engagement letter — at the NY courts attorney services site.

What you should see: the attorney's active law-licence record with no disciplinary issues. For US matters Cosmos never represents itself as practising US immigration law directly — you receive engagement disclosures from the US-licensed attorney alongside ours.

Open NYSBA attorney search

For general US bar admission across other states, see the ABA bar directories & lawyer finders.

Regulatory updates

What's changed recently

Real, dated regulator changes that may affect how you verify any consultancy — including ours. None of these change Cosmos's standing; they change where you look.

October 2024Rename

OISC becomes the IAA in the United Kingdom

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner was reconstituted as the Immigration Advice Authority in October 2024. Existing OISC-regulated advisers carried over to the IAA register. If you find an old "OISC" reference, the equivalent today is "IAA". Lookup remains by name.

November 2021Rename

ICCRC becomes the CICC in Canada

The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council was renamed the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Old "ICCRC" references mean the same regulator under its previous name. Public register search is by consultant name.

OngoingFraud alert

Cloned consultancy sites with stolen licence numbers

A documented fraud pattern: scammers stand up websites that copy a real consultancy's brand, addresses and licence number. The number "checks out" because it is real — it just belongs to someone else. Verifying by name on the regulator's site, not by licence number on a website, defeats this attack.

Standing rulePolicy

Migration Act 1958 — paid Australian migration assistance is restricted

Australia restricts paid immigration assistance to MARA-registered agents, holders of Australian legal practising certificates with immigration endorsement, and certain exempt categories. Anyone giving paid Australian migration advice outside those categories is operating outside the Act.

Since 2014Cosmos

Cosmos: 10,569 cases reviewed across seven destination pathways

Cosmos has supported clients moving from the UAE, GCC, India and Sri Lanka to Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Schengen, Ireland and New Zealand pathways since 2014. Khaleej Times-recognised features and 1,200+ Google reviews remain publicly visible alongside the regulator registers.

2014
Founded
10,569
Cases reviewed
4.9 / 5
Google rating
4
Offices: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad, Oakville

Self-defence

How to spot a fake or dishonest consultancy

Apply this checklist to any consultancy — including ours. If a firm fails on more than one of these, walk away.

Six warning signs

  • Licence number on the site, no register link A number with no path to verify it is a number designed not to be checked. Real licensed firms point you at the official register.
  • No engagement letter naming the consultant The engagement letter must name the specific consultant on your file, their regulator, registration, country, pathway, fees and deliverables. No name = no accountability.
  • Pressure to pay before signing Any push to transfer fees before the engagement letter is signed and the regulator is verified is a structural failure, not a "first-mover advantage".
  • Vague answers about regulator status "We're affiliated", "we work with", "we're connected to" — affiliation is not registration. Ask which named individual is registered with which regulator, and verify on the register.
  • Stock photos in place of a real team If "the team" pages are visibly stock or generic AI images, the firm is hiding the people who would handle your case. Real consultancies show real consultants you can name and verify.
  • Verbal guarantees of approval No consultancy can guarantee a government decision. Anyone offering one is either lying or unaware of how their own regulator's code of conduct works.

If something doesn't match

What to do if a verification fails

If any of the four registers does not return an active record matching what your Cosmos engagement letter says:

  1. Stop the engagementDo not transfer further fees until the discrepancy is resolved.
  2. Email customerservice@cosmosimmigration.comDescribe the discrepancy. Same business-day response.
  3. Document everythingScreenshot the search result. Save it with the timestamp.
  4. Escalate to the regulator if unresolved within 48 hoursEach regulator publishes a complaint mechanism on the same site as the register.

We make this easy because we want your engagement to start with verification, not after it. If anything in your engagement feels wrong — pressure to pay before signing, refusal to name the consultant, vague answers about regulator status — call directly: +971 4 357 7796 or WhatsApp +971 43577796.

Scope

What this page is not

Not a replacement for your engagement letter

The engagement letter names the specific consultant, their regulator and registration, the destination, the pathway, fees and deliverables. Verifying registration is the first check; reading the engagement letter is the second.

Not a guarantee of outcome

Cosmos does not guarantee approvals. Consular and government decisions remain with the relevant authority. Verification confirms standing — not result.

Not a substitute for direct contact

If anything in your engagement feels wrong — pressure to pay before signing, refusal to name the consultant, vague answers about regulator status — call or WhatsApp the founder directly.

FAQ

Questions clients ask before engaging

Why don't you just publish your licence numbers like everyone else?

Two reasons. Identity-fraud risk: published licence numbers are routinely cloned onto fake consultancy sites. And: a number on a webpage is just a number — anyone can put any number on a webpage. The question that protects you is whether the consultant appears on the regulator's public register today. We point you to the regulator search instead.

How do I know which licensed associate will be on my file?

The engagement letter names the licensed associate assigned to your case before any fee is taken — for an Australian matter, the named MARA agent; for a Canadian matter, the named CICC-registered RCIC or RISIA; for a UK matter, the named IAA-registered adviser; for a US matter, the named US-licensed attorney. That individual's name is what you search for on the regulator's register. If a Cosmos engagement letter does not name a specific licensed associate for the relevant jurisdiction, do not sign — call the founder directly.

Does Cosmos itself hold a CICC, MARA, IAA or ABA-NYSBA licence?

No — and that is the correct legal answer, not a workaround. CICC, MARA, IAA and the New York State Bar all license individual practitioners by name. They do not license firms. Cosmos operates as a Dubai-based consultancy that engages named, individually-licensed associates in each jurisdiction. The licence is theirs, attached to their name on the regulator's register; you verify the named individual, not the firm.

What does "MARA-affiliated" mean in your footer disclaimer?

It means we engage MARA-registered associates on Australian matters and the named MARA agent is disclosed on every Australian engagement letter. Affiliation is not the same as direct personal registration; the engagement letter and the MARA register together show you which named individual holds the MARN.

Is "ICCRC" the same as "CICC"?

Yes — same Canadian regulator, renamed in November 2021. If older Cosmos materials reference ICCRC, they refer to the body now called the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). The current public register is at college-ic.ca.

I'm already paying another consultancy and I want a second opinion. Can you help?

Yes. The 20-minute profile review covers second-opinion cases. Bring your existing engagement letter, the consultant's name, and any communications you find concerning. We will tell you what we see — including, where applicable, that you should stay where you are because the work is being done correctly.

Verify before you sign. Then book a free 20-minute profile review.

No quotas. No commission targets. No pressure to apply. Including, where it applies, "don't apply yet".

Book My 20-Minute Review
Cosmos Immigration is a Dubai-based consultancy. Regulator licences in Canada (CICC), Australia (MARA), the United Kingdom (IAA) and the United States (ABA / NYSBA) attach to individual practitioners — not to firms. The specific licensed associate handling your case in each jurisdiction is named on your Cosmos engagement letter, and clients verify that named individual via the public registers linked above. Cosmos does not guarantee approvals; consular and government decisions remain with the relevant authority. For UAE residents, this content does not constitute legal advice under UAE Federal Law No. 5 of 2012.

Also at Cosmos

Cosmos in the news

Khaleej Times and Gulf News have profiled Cosmos Immigration multiple times since 2019. Selected features below; full archive available on each publisher's site.

See 10 more press features (2019–2024)

Verifiable via the Khaleej Times and Gulf News archives. Cosmos's CICC and MARA standing is verifiable on the official public registers — see how to verify our credentials.

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Head Quarters

  • Office No. 105 & 110 ,Al Fajer Complex
    Umm Hurair Road, Oud Metha
    Landmark: Zabeel Furniture Mall
    Dubai - United Arab Emirates
    PO Box: 30757
  • +97143577796
  • info@cosmosimmigration.com

Abu Dhabi

  • Office 1402, Abdullah Darwish Building, Al Salam Street, Above WEMART (Chinese Mart), Opp Nehal hotel - Abu Dhabi
  • +97126458723
  • info@cosmosimmigration.com

India

  • South India Shopping Mall, Hyderabad, Telangana 500016, India
  • +914035173051
  • info@cosmosimmigration.com

Canada

  • 690 Dorval Dr Suite 200,
    Oakville, ON L6K 3X9,
    Canada
  • info@cosmosimmigration.com

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