What an RCIC licence means, and how to check one

What it permits

• Giving immigration advice and representing clients to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for a fee. In Canada this is restricted work: doing it unlicensed is an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
• Appearing on the public register maintained by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, the statutory regulator that replaced ICCRC in 2021.
• A related but narrower class, RISIA (Regulated International Student Immigration Advisor), covers study-permit advice only — not general immigration representation.

What it does not tell you

The limits matter as much as the permissions. A licence answers one question precisely and says nothing about the others.

• Whether the consultant works with families rather than individual applicants. The licence is about immigration practice, not about who the client is.
• Whether they have any experience with school placement, boarding admissions or year-group matching. Nothing in the licensing regime touches education.
• How large the firm is, how many families it places, or whether it is currently accepting new clients.
• Anything about conduct history unless a decision has been published. A clean-looking entry is not a positive endorsement.

How to check one yourself

1. 1Go to the College's public register at college-ic.ca and open the 'Find a professional' search.
2. 2Search by the consultant's full name or by the R-number itself. RCIC numbers are formatted R followed by six digits.
3. 3Confirm the name on the register matches the person the firm named to you, not just the firm's trading name — the licence belongs to a person, never to a company.
4. 4Check the status field. Active is the only status that permits practice; suspended, revoked and retired do not.
5. 5Note the date you checked. A register is a snapshot, and status can change.