What is the CICC?

The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) is the federal regulatory body that licenses, oversees, and disciplines all Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) in Canada. It was created in 2021 under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act (Bill C-97), replacing the previous Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).

The CICC's mandate is to protect the public by ensuring that immigration consultants meet competency, ethics, and continuing-education standards equivalent to those expected of regulated legal professionals.

What CICC does

• Licenses RCICs in three classes (L1, L2, L3 — Unrestricted Practice / RCIC-IRB).
• Maintains the public register of all active and former RCICs.
• Enforces the Code of Professional Ethics — prohibits conflicts of interest, fee discrimination, false advertising, ghost consulting, and unauthorized practice.
• Investigates complaints against RCICs and conducts discipline hearings.
• Sets continuing professional development (CPD) requirements — RCICs must complete prescribed hours each year to maintain their license.
• Regulates fees through a published Tariff (in development) and trust-account rules.

Why CICC regulation matters for clients

• Mandatory complaints process. Any client of an RCIC can file a complaint with the CICC; the College investigates and can impose sanctions including reprimands, fines, suspensions, and license revocation.
• Insurance and trust accounting. RCICs must carry errors-and-omissions insurance and operate a separate trust account for client funds — substantial financial protections that don't exist for unregulated "consultants."
• Public register. Any client can verify their consultant's license status at any time. License numbers are public.
• Continuing competency. RCICs are required to stay current on IRCC and IRB practice through annual CPD.

Halani Immigration Services Inc.

Shoukat Qumruddin Halani is a licensed RCIC-IRB (Class L3 — Unrestricted Practice), CICC License No. R711322, in good standing. The license can be verified on the CICC public register.

Common misconceptions

• CICC is not IRCC. CICC regulates immigration consultants; IRCC processes immigration applications. They are separate federal bodies.
• CICC is not a law society. Lawyers are regulated by provincial law societies, not by the CICC. The CICC and provincial law societies are parallel regulatory regimes.
• Old "ICCRC" designation is obsolete. Anyone still advertising "ICCRC member" rather than "CICC member" is using outdated terminology — possibly indicating they have not refreshed their professional materials since 2021.

See also

• RCIC — what CICC licenses.
• IRCC — the immigration department RCICs represent before.