Updated · NextMigrate Team
How to Vet Anyone Who Offers to Help You Migrate
Imagine you are a teacher in Karachi. Your salary has not moved in three years, but prices have. One evening, a man in a WhatsApp group sends you a message. He says he has helped many teachers get to Canada. He sounds kind. He knows the forms. He just needs a deposit to "open your file".
Your heart jumps. But a small voice asks: how do I know he is real? Listen to it. You do not need to know immigration law to protect yourself. You need six questions.
The short answer: Ask these six in one message, before any money moves. Are you registered, and where can I check the number myself? Will your name appear on my application as my representative? What exactly am I buying, in writing? What is not included? What happens if I am refused? Who owns my documents? An honest provider answers all six plainly, in writing, and is not offended. A dishonest one dodges, offers comfort instead of a number, or says that asking shows you do not trust them. The dodge is your answer.
This is general information. A registered migration agent or immigration lawyer should confirm how it applies to you. Rules, registers and penalties change, so check the current version with the authority named.
Who should face these questions?
Anyone who takes money for your move: agents, consultants, lawyers, recruiters, education agents, document services. And people with no title at all: a relative's friend who "knows someone at the embassy", a group admin, a fixer in a Gulf state, a "travel and documentation" company.
They apply to NextMigrate too. Our own answers are further down this page.
Question one: are you registered, and where can I check?
Several countries limit who may give paid immigration advice. Registers at the time of writing include the Office of the MARA in Australia, the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants in Canada, the Immigration Advice Authority in the United Kingdom (previously the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner), and the Immigration Advisers Authority in New Zealand. Lawyers are regulated by their bar association or law society. Overseas recruitment is licensed in origin countries by bodies such as the Department of Migrant Workers in the Philippines and India's eMigrate system. Education agents appear on the destination's sponsor or provider register. Names and rules change, so use the authority's own website.
Think of a taxi. Before you get in, you check the licence plate yourself, not the driver's word. An honest provider gives you the number, the exact name it is held under and the register, and expects you to look. A screenshot, PDF, wall plaque or number in a chat is worth nothing until you have searched the official register yourself.
Watch for three dodges:
- Swapping the scope. A company registration or a trade association logo instead of an immigration registration.
- Borrowing a number. One registered person's number covers an office of unregistered staff who actually handle your file.
- Shifting the country. "Registration does not apply to us here." That can be true, and it still leaves you with no regulator to complain to.
Our guide on how to check a migration agent is licensed walks through each register search step by step.
Question two: will your name appear on my application?
Most forms have a section naming the representative. It is a hard test. An adviser who agrees to be named accepts responsibility. One who leaves it blank, or asks you to submit "as if you did it yourself", leaves you carrying all the consequences.
Ask: will your name and registration number go in that section, and will I see the form before it is submitted? Be wary of "it is faster without a representative" or "our lawyer signs it, you will not meet him". A provider who does not file should say so and tell you who will. If someone offers to prepare your forms while you press submit, read ghost consultants and unregistered agents.
Question three: what exactly am I buying?
Ask for a list of deliverables you can point at later: a written eligibility assessment, a comparison of named visa routes, a document checklist, a set number of hours of advice, lodgement of a specific application. Each needs its own fee, separate from government charges, tests, translation and medicals. Vagueness is where money disappears.
Two answers should alarm you. First, an outcome sold as a product: "you are paying for the visa". Nobody sells visas. Governments decide them. Second, a job offer bundled into the fee. Read visa farms and sponsorship for sale if someone offers you a sponsor in the package. For how honest pricing is usually staged against milestones, see migration consultant fees: what is reasonable.
Question four: what is not included?
This is the question people forget. A careful provider lists exclusions at once: we do not sit your language test, get your police certificates, pay government fees, do your skills assessment or guarantee processing times, and we cannot advise on tax or your criminal record.
"We handle everything" is like a builder who quotes one number for "the whole house" with no plans. Either they have not thought about it, or they want you to find the gaps after you pay.
Push once: what has gone wrong for past clients? A provider with real files will describe a delayed police certificate or a sponsor who pulled out.
Exclusions raise another question: do you need a paid provider at all? Many simple cases are filed by the applicant alone. See do I need a migration agent. For refusals, criminal matters or appeals, the right person is often a lawyer, as when a case calls for an immigration lawyer explains.
Question five: what happens if I am refused?
Refusals are normal. Ask, in writing: what is your refund policy on a refusal? Is a reapplication or appeal included, or charged again? Who drafts the reply to a request for more information? What happens to my file and documents if I stop?
The dangerous answer is a guarantee, or a claim of never having a case refused. A government officer decides, and no provider controls that. A guarantee is either a lie or a sign they plan to fake evidence.
Faked evidence brings something worse than a refusal: a misrepresentation finding, which follows you into future applications. See misrepresentation finding versus plain refusal, and if a finding has already been made, misrepresentation bans and what you can do. Each destination sets and changes its own ban lengths, so check its authority's site and take legal advice.
Question six: who owns my documents?
Your passport, degree, certificates and bank statements are yours. Ask who holds the originals, how fast you get them back, and what happens to your file if you stop paying.
Handing over your passport is like handing a stranger the keys to your house. Whoever holds your originals holds you. Your passport should stay with you, except for the short periods an application or embassy appointment needs. Refuse any deal where a provider keeps it for "safekeeping".
Ask about logins too. An adviser who keeps the password to an account in your name stops you seeing what was submitted, and you are responsible for it. Holding documents to keep a worker in place after arrival is a far more serious harm, so refuse long before it gets there.
Signals and what they mean
| Signal | What it means | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Registration number given freely, with the name to search | The provider expects you to check | Search the regulator's own register. Confirm the status is current |
| Only a company registration or an association logo offered | The provider may hold no immigration registration | Search the immigration register separately from the companies register |
| Refuses to be named as representative on the form | All responsibility stays with you | Ask to see the completed form and check the representative section |
| One fee covering "everything" | Exclusions stay hidden until after payment | Ask for the exclusion list in writing before you pay |
| Guarantee of approval, PR or a job offer | A false claim, or a plan to fake evidence | No check needed. The guarantee itself is the finding |
| Job offer included in the package for a fee | Paying for sponsorship is unlawful in several destinations | Check the employer on the companies and sponsor registers |
| Holds your passport or originals indefinitely | Power over your ability to leave | Agree in writing when originals come back to you |
What a bad provider really costs you
Money is the smallest cost. Time goes in blocks you cannot get back: language scores expire, police certificates and medicals have validity windows, and points systems give fewer points as you age. Your record is the bigger risk. If false information reaches an authority in your name, the consequence lands on you, whoever typed it.
Then there is debt. If a loan or your family paid, you feel pressure to keep paying into something already failing. How would you explain the loss to the people who lent it? That is why the six questions belong at the start, when walking away still costs nothing.
Not sure which country you’d qualify for?
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Free eligibility check →If you have already paid
Gather the evidence first: contracts, receipts, transfer references, full message threads, the names and numbers used, and any copy of the application. If the payment was recent, call your bank the same day. Recall windows are short, and your bank can tell you the deadline for your payment method.
Report to the immigration regulator if the person claimed to be registered, to the police or cybercrime unit at home, and to the recruitment licensing body if a job was involved. If someone filed an application in your name without your knowledge, get legal advice before you write to the immigration authority. See an agent took my money: what you can actually do.
Beware the second approach: someone offering to "recover" your money for an upfront fee. Our guide to avoiding immigration scams covers this and other patterns.
Common mistakes
- Accepting a screenshot as proof. Certificates and PDFs are easy to copy. Only your own search on the regulator's site counts.
- Asking the questions, then ignoring the answers. Most people who lose money noticed something early and explained it away.
- Letting urgency win. "Quota almost full" is a pressure script. Real deadlines are on government websites.
- Checking the agent but not the employer or college. Use how to check an overseas employer actually exists and the destination's sponsor register.
Where to go deeper
- Payment includes a job offer abroad: visa farms and sponsorship for sale.
- You cannot confirm the company on your offer letter is real: how to check an overseas employer actually exists.
- An adviser will not be named on your forms: ghost consultants and unregistered agents.
- A centre offered to arrange a language score: fake test centres and bought language scores.
- You paid and nothing happened: an agent took my money: what you can actually do.
- Someone is selling a qualification to make you eligible: diploma mills: how to tell a real qualification from a sold one.
- You want to know if your real degree will be accepted: is your degree recognised and how credential assessment works.
- A study place that is really a visa route: bogus colleges: student visas that lead nowhere.
- Someone offers a degree or experience letter you did not earn: buying a degree or experience letter: what it costs later.
- What a properly run service looks like: what an honest migration service does and what it cannot.
- A fast final check before paying: twelve red flags to check before you pay any migration fee.
Now apply the checklist to NextMigrate
Are we registered? Ask us, and check the answer yourself before any money moves. Plainly: NextMigrate provides independent planning and guidance. We do not file, lodge or submit applications for you, and we tell you when you need a licensed lawyer or registered agent.
Will our name appear on your application? No. We do not file applications. If your case needs a licensed professional to file it, we tell you, and that person acts for you.
What exactly are you buying? A 60-minute video call, scoring for up to 3 countries, a written roadmap within 48 hours and 7 days of email follow-up. The price is $499 in total, and $99 books it, with a full refund if you cancel 24 hours before.
What is not included? We do not lodge applications, sit your tests, get your police certificates, run your skills assessment or pay government fees. We do not find you a job or sponsor, and we do not sell job offers. We give no legal advice on inadmissibility, criminal history or misrepresentation. That is where you need a lawyer.
What happens if you are refused? A roadmap does not improve the odds of any decision. We guarantee no visa, outcome, job offer or timeline. Governments decide. Planning helps you pick a route you qualify for and do the steps in a workable order.
Who owns your documents? You do. We never hold your passport or original certificates, and we hold no logins to any government account in your name.
Hold every provider to those same six answers, and choose the one most honest about its limits.
What to do next
Send the six questions in one message and ask for written answers. Search the register yourself. Read the exclusions first. Keep your originals. If an answer comes back as comfort instead of a fact, that is the answer.
Start with the free eligibility check for a quick read on your options.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check an immigration consultant is legitimate?
Search the destination country's regulator register yourself, using the exact registered name, and confirm the status is current. Then ask the six questions. Registration proves they may advise; the questions show whether the service is real.
What if the consultant is in a country that does not regulate immigration advice?
That is common and not automatically dishonest, but it weakens your position. With no regulator, your only protections are the written contract, the payment method and the exclusions list. An adviser who openly says they are unregulated is safer than one who hints at a registration they do not hold.
Is it a bad sign if an adviser will not guarantee my visa?
No, it is a good sign. Government officers decide using published criteria and your evidence, so no adviser controls the outcome. A guarantee means the provider is either misdescribing what they do or planning to use untrue material, which risks a misrepresentation finding in your name.
What is the single fastest check if I only have five minutes?
Search the register for an active entry in that exact name. If nothing comes back, it has expired or the name does not match, stop and ask why. Next, ask if their name goes on your form.
Does using a paid provider improve my chances of approval?
It does not change the criteria an officer applies. Good help cuts avoidable errors and tells you early if you are eligible at all. In complex cases, a registered agent or lawyer adds real value. Anyone claiming that hiring them raises your odds is selling something they cannot deliver.
