JAJ

Please read the CIC website before asking questions:
http://www.cic.gc.ca

From 1 May 2003, applications for most Canadian visas must usually be submitted to the CIC office dealing with your nationality or country of residence if you have been legally admitted to that country for 12 months or more. This is explained on the CIC site together with contact details of the relevant offices.

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If you wish to use an immigration representative, from April 13 2004, authorized, paid representatives may only be:

- immigration consultants who are members in good standing of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants;
http://www.csic-scci.ca

- lawyers who are members in good standing of a Canadian law society and students-at-law under their supervision;

- notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and students-at-law under their supervision.

Transitional rules exist for applications submitted prior to April 13, 2004.

Rules for *unpaid* representatives are different and are explained on the CIC website.

You are not obliged to hire a representative for immigration or refugee matters. The Government of Canada treats everyone equally, whether they use the services of a representative or not.

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A good web portal for information about Canada is http://www.yahoo.ca

Sue

There is additional information about Canadian immigration (and indeed about Canada in general) in the Wiki section of the BE website. The wiki is a great member contributed resource which should be your first port of call before posting in the forums.

iaink

In addition, its worthwhile for people new to the forum to read the excellent wiki article

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Newcomers_to_the_forum

This contains hints on posting etiquette, which forum to post what questions in, list of the many abbreviations/ acronyms that are used here and so on.

Also, the article on tips on using the forum may also be invaluable;
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Tips_on_using_the_forum

And of course, as Sue said, for all topics regarding Canada and immigration to Canada, the wiki can be an invaluable tool.
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Canada

This link to the Acronyms and abbreviations will help newbies get up to speed in particular
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Canadian_Abbreviations