How to Check a Migration Agent Is Licensed, Country by Country

Imagine you are a software tester in Hyderabad. Your salary has not moved in three years. Rent has. A friend in Toronto keeps sending photos of a quiet street and a bigger flat.

Then an ad appears on Instagram. A friendly consultant offers to "handle everything" for your Canada move. He sends a smart certificate on WhatsApp. He wants a deposit by Friday, "before the fees go up".

You want to believe him. You have waited long enough. But a small voice asks: is this person real?

The short answer: Checking takes about ten minutes, and the steps are the same everywhere. Get the adviser's full legal name and registration number in writing. Open the regulator's own public register: the CICC for Canada, OMARA for Australia, the Immigration Advice Authority (long known as the OISC) for the UK, or the Immigration Advisers Authority for New Zealand. Search by number, then by name, and read the status line. If the name and number are not on the regulator's own site, treat the person as unregistered and stop.

Why only the register counts

A certificate on WhatsApp, a logo on a website, a plaque on the office wall, a trade association badge: anyone can get or fake these without ever being registered.

Think of buying a used car. You would not trust a registration paper the seller printed at home. You would check the plate with the licensing office. An adviser's register entry works the same way.

This is general information. Confirm the current regulator, the current register address and your own case with a registered or licensed adviser or a qualified lawyer before you pay anyone.

Who needs to run this check

You do, if you are about to pay anyone to advise on, prepare or lodge an immigration application. That includes:

• consultants who charge for eligibility assessments
• agents who offer to submit an Express Entry profile or expression of interest for you
• recruiters who bundle "visa processing" into a job placement
• study agents who also handle the visa

Check before the first payment. Afterwards, it protects nothing. Money sent abroad to an unregistered agent is very hard to get back.

The cash is often not the worst part. A misleading application lodged in your name gives you a misrepresentation record that can follow you for years. Ban lengths and triggers differ by country and change, so check with the authority itself, for example Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or Australia's Department of Home Affairs. If you were already refused once, our guide on declaring a previous visa refusal explains how a bad first filing affects the second.

The one exception is unpaid help from friends or volunteers, which usually sits outside the rules, though some countries still limit who may act as a representative.

What you need before you start

Ask for four things in one written message. A real adviser will send them without hesitation.

• Full legal name as registered. Many agents trade under a business name or short name. The register uses the legal name.
• Registration, licence or membership number. Every regulated system issues one. If they cannot give it to you straight away, that tells you something.
• The name of the regulator. "Government approved" means nothing alone. You want the name of the body.
• The name of the person who will sign the form. This catches the most common trick: a registered agent lends their number to an office full of unregistered salespeople.

Keep the reply. If they only answer by phone, email a summary and ask them to confirm it.

The registers, country by country

These were accurate as far as we could establish in August 2026. Regulators get renamed, merged or moved to new websites. The UK body is a live example. Before you rely on any row, search for the regulator on the destination government's own domain (gc.ca, homeaffairs.gov.au, gov.uk, govt.nz and so on) and follow the link from there.

Two points stand out.

The destination regulates advice. Your home country regulates recruitment. These are separate systems with separate registers. An agency in Manila can hold a valid DMW licence to recruit for a hospital in Riyadh and still have nobody registered to give Canadian immigration advice. Check the register that matches what you are paying for.

Lawyers are usually on a different list. An Australian solicitor with an unrestricted practising certificate will not appear on the OMARA register. A Canadian lawyer will not have an RCIC number. That is normal. Check them on the law society or legal services board directory instead. Nobody legitimate is on no public list at all.

How to run the check, step by step

Step one: search by number first

A number returns exactly one record. It removes the guesswork of common names and different spellings. If nothing comes back, try one formatting change (some registers want the R prefix on a Canadian RCIC number, some do not). Then stop.

Step two: search by name, and compare

Now search the surname alone. Does the record carry the name the agent gave you? Is there a second person with a similar name whose details the agent may be borrowing? With common surnames across South Asia and West Africa, this minute matters.

Step three: read the whole record

A green tick tells you very little. The useful detail sits underneath. Depending on the country, a record can show:

• Status. Current, active, registered, licensed. Or expired, lapsed, suspended, cancelled, struck off, surrendered.
• Expiry or renewal date. Registration usually has to be renewed, often every year. Confirm the cycle on the regulator's page. A record that expired four months ago means an unregistered adviser today.
• Licence type or level. New Zealand has full, provisional and limited licences. The UK uses numbered levels, with complex work such as appeals and tribunal representation kept for the higher levels. The scope of each level changes over time, so read the current definitions on the regulator's site. An adviser working above their level is working outside their authorisation.
• Conditions. Supervision rules, limits on types of work, or a cap on new clients.
• Business details. The trading name and address the person is registered at.
• Disciplinary history. Some regulators publish decisions or complaints, sometimes on a separate page.

Step four: check the person matches the record

Almost everyone skips this step, and it is where the real risk sits. A registered agent's number can be attached to an office where the person you meet and pay is an unregistered assistant reading a script. It is like a clinic with a surgeon's name on the sign, where the receptionist does the operation.

Three checks close the gap:

1. Ask the person to say their own registration number and full legal name, out loud, before you search. Do not show them the record first. Someone saying a number they use every day sounds different from someone reading a colleague's off a card.
2. Use whatever the register publishes. Some show a photo. Most show the business name, address and contact details. Some list languages. Compare that with a video call and a business card. If the office will not put the registered person on a video call before you pay, that is your answer.
3. Ask whose name goes in the representative section of the form. Every system has one. Canada uses the Use of a Representative form. Australia has a form for appointing an agent or exempt person. The UK and New Zealand collect adviser details on the application. Check the current form name on the government's site, then ask to see the completed section before it is submitted. If the name differs from your adviser, or the box is blank because "it is faster that way", walk away.

What a suspension or condition looks like

Real entries are quiet. Look for small text near the status line.

A suspension shows the status changed, for example from Registered to Suspended, with a start date and sometimes an end date. The person may not give paid advice during it. A suspended agent may call it "a renewal delay", or ask you to sign with a colleague "for now" while still running your file. Both are the same problem.

A condition is a sentence attached to an otherwise current registration. It may require supervision, limit the visa types, cap client numbers or require extra training. A condition is not automatically a reason to leave. A new adviser under supervision can be very good. But ask directly: what is this condition, when was it imposed, and does it cover my case?

A cancelled, struck off or surrendered entry can stay visible in a history section after the person has left. Read the dates. A screenshot from three years ago is a true record of the past, not of today.

If the register has a decisions page, spend two minutes there. It names advisers and explains what happened.

What it costs and how long it takes

The check is free everywhere. Any site that asks for payment or an account to look up an agent is not the regulator. Allow ten minutes, plus a day or two if you first had to email the agent for their details.

Adviser fees are a separate question, and they vary a lot. Our guide to what a migration consultant should reasonably cost shows how to read a quote. Do I need a migration agent covers when the answer is no.

What registration really gives you is a place to complain. A regulator can investigate, add conditions or remove an adviser from the register.

Two payment rules, whoever you hire:

• Pay a business account in the firm's registered name, against a written agreement and a numbered invoice. Never a personal account, never cash without a receipt, never through a third person.
• Never pay for a job offer itself. Charging workers for placement is banned in many of these corridors. It is the core of the most damaging scams. Our guides on how to verify an overseas job offer and how to avoid immigration scams explain the payment patterns.

Not sure you need to pay for advice at all? Start with the free eligibility check. It asks 6 questions and gives you a quick read on your options in 2 minutes. You will walk into any adviser meeting knowing what to ask.

When this check does not protect you

The register check is necessary. But it has four gaps.

The agent is offshore and unregistered on purpose. Enforcement against someone in a third country with no assets there is weak. The check warns you. It does not get your money back.

The service is outside the rules. Translation, couriers, CV writing, language-test coaching and general information (including this page) usually need no immigration registration. Buying those from an unregistered provider is normal. The line is advice on your application and acting as your representative.

The registration is real, but the advice is bad. Registration is a floor, not a ceiling. Think of a driving licence. It proves someone passed a test. It does not prove they know your road. A registered adviser may still not know your occupation, your country's documents, or the body that will assess your qualifications.

You are buying recruitment, not advice. For a Gulf job or a seasonal scheme, adviser registers do not apply. Check the recruitment licence in your own country, check the employer exists, and check whether anyone is charging you a fee at all.

Common mistakes

• Trusting a certificate image or a link the agent sent. Certificates are easy to edit and fake register sites exist. Go from the government's main domain to the regulator, then to the register.
• Checking the company, not the person. In most systems, registration belongs to individuals. A registered company with no registered person on your file is not a check.
• Stopping at "found, active". The conditions, expiry date and licence level matter most often.
• Not checking again. Registrations lapse and suspensions happen mid-case. Re-check before each big payment and before final submission.
• Trusting location. An office near a visa centre or a government building is not approval. Neither is a wall of framed reviews.
• Treating a promise as a credential. Nobody can guarantee approval, processing time or a job. A registered adviser who promises these is still one to refuse.
• Paying with nothing in writing. No agreement, no scope, no fee list and no refund terms means no case to complain about later.

Apply the same test to everyone, including us

Ask every adviser or service four questions, free ones included:

1. Are you registered or licensed to give immigration advice for the country I am applying to, and with which body?
2. If you are not, what exactly are you selling me, and who will act as my representative on the application?
3. What is the total fee, what is in scope, and what happens to my money if I stop?
4. What have you told me I cannot do, or that will not work?

The last question tells you the most. A provider who says yes to everything is selling you hope.

Our own answer: NextMigrate is a research and planning service. We publish general information and sell a plan check that maps your profile against routes, documents, assessing bodies and order of steps. We are not a registered immigration adviser in Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland or the Gulf. We do not act as anyone's representative or lodge applications. Where a case needs regulated advice, the roadmap says so and names the register to search.

What to do next

If the check was clean, keep the evidence. Screenshot the register entry with the date showing, save the written agreement, and pay the business account on the invoice. Then start on the file: our guides to the documents you need to migrate abroad and the safe migration checklist before you leave cover what a good adviser will ask for anyway. Having it ready saves you paid hours.

If the check came back empty, stop paying and send nothing more. Ask in writing for your file and originals back. Report the person to the regulator they claimed, so the next person is protected. If money has gone, call your bank straight away, and report to the fraud or anti-trafficking authority at home as well as the destination regulator.

If the result is unclear, such as a condition or level you do not understand, email the regulator's public enquiry address. It is free and faster than guessing.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if an immigration agent is registered?

Get their full legal name and registration number in writing. Search the destination's register: the CICC for Canada, OMARA for Australia, the UK immigration advice regulator (formerly the OISC, renamed the Immigration Advice Authority), or the Immigration Advisers Authority for New Zealand. Search by number, then name, and read the status, expiry and conditions. Type the government domain yourself, and confirm the regulator's current name first.

What if the agent says they are a lawyer, not a migration agent?

Then they will usually not appear on the immigration register, and that is expected. Check them on the legal profession's own register: the provincial law society in Canada, the state or territory legal services board in Australia, the Law Society Find a Solicitor service or Bar Standards Board register in the UK, the New Zealand Law Society, the Law Society of Ireland, or the federal bar's national directory in Germany. Ask for the practising certificate number and confirm it is current and unrestricted. Our guide on when you need an immigration lawyer covers when the higher cost is worth it.

Do I have to use a registered agent, or can I apply myself?

You can apply yourself in every one of these systems. IRCC, the Australian Department of Home Affairs, UKVI, Immigration New Zealand and the German missions all accept direct applications. None of them gives priority to an application because an agent lodged it. Paying for advice buys help with judgement and paperwork, not access. Any claim that you must use an agent, or that an agent is faster, is false.

The register shows a condition on the agent's licence. Should I walk away?

Not automatically. Conditions range from routine supervision on a new licence to limits imposed after a complaint. Ask the adviser what the condition is, when it was imposed and whether it allows the work you need. Then check the regulator's published decisions page. Walk away if the answer is vague, or if the condition excludes your type of case.

What does an unregistered agent put at risk for me?

Three things. Your money, which is hard to recover across borders. Your record, because false statements in an application made in your name can lead to a misrepresentation finding and a ban of several years, even if you did not write them. And your time, because a bad first application limits every later one, and refusals must be declared on every future form.

How do I know the person I am speaking to is the registered person?

Ask them to state their number and legal name before you search. Compare the register's photo and business details. Insist on a video call with the registered person before you pay, and ask to see their name in the representative section of the form. An office that only lets you talk to sales staff is the exact setup this check is meant to catch.

The bottom line

Four steps, ten minutes, no cost. Get the name and number in writing. Search the regulator's own register by number, then by name. Read the status and conditions, not just the green tick. Confirm the person advising you is the person on the record. Repeat before every big payment.

Your savings and your future are worth those ten minutes. If you want to know whether your route is viable before you pay anyone, start with the free eligibility check. And treat any answer that sounds like a guarantee as the least reliable thing you hear all week.