(CANADA) – Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced new regulations on May 6, 2026, tightening oversight of immigration and citizenship consultants in Canada and setting their effective date for July 15, 2026.

The changes give the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants stronger tools to police misconduct, widen public disclosure about licensed consultants, and place the regulator under a clearer layer of ministerial oversight.

Officials said the regulations also set rules for a compensation fund meant to provide restitution to victims of financial loss caused by dishonest acts from consultants. Another set of changes imposes new reporting and transparency obligations on the College.

The announcement lays out a phased rollout. Most of the regulations take effect on July 15, 2026, while the expansion of the College’s public register begins in April 2027.

Draft regulations had already been published in the Canada Gazette on December 21, 2024. That publication opened a period for stakeholders to review the proposal and provide feedback before implementation.

Canada said the measures are meant to reinforce the College’s role and help applicants obtain more reliable, transparent, and accountable services throughout the immigration or citizenship process.

One of the most direct changes concerns complaints and discipline. Under the new rules, the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants will have increased penalties available for consultants who violate rules, widening the consequences the regulator can impose after misconduct findings.

The regulations also clarify how investigations into misconduct should proceed. That change targets the mechanics of enforcement, not only the penalties that can follow.

Public disclosure will also broaden. Beginning in April 2027, the College’s public register of licensed consultants will require more detailed information, a move aimed at protecting the public from unauthorized representatives.

That register has practical weight in a sector where clients often rely on a consultant’s license status before paying for advice or representation. Requiring more detailed information places more of the regulator’s records in public view.

Another part of the package adds reporting requirements for the College itself. The regulator will face new transparency and reporting obligations, extending scrutiny beyond individual consultants to the body that licenses and disciplines them.

Ministerial oversight forms another piece of the new framework. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship will have the power to appoint someone to take over board duties if the College’s board fails to meet its responsibilities.

That provision creates a formal intervention tool for the federal government if the board falls short. It also places the College’s governance under a clearer accountability structure than the existing framework described in the announcement.

The compensation fund provisions address a different kind of harm. The regulations establish guidelines for the College’s compensation fund, which provides restitution to victims of financial loss caused by dishonest acts from consultants.

Consultants licensed in Canada now face a broader compliance structure that touches discipline, investigations, reporting, and governance. Applicants, in turn, are set to deal with a system that promises more visible records and a more clearly defined process when complaints arise.

The public-facing effect becomes more visible next year, when the expanded register begins operating in April 2027. That later date means the enforcement and oversight changes arrive first, followed by the wider transparency rules.

The timing also links the final regulations to a process that began more than a year earlier. By publishing draft regulations on December 21, 2024 in the Canada Gazette, Canada gave stakeholders a formal chance to examine the proposal before the new regime was finalized.

The announcement frames the package as part of a larger effort to improve the reliability of immigration and citizenship services. In practice, that means more power for the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants to discipline members, more information available to the public, and a defined route for government intervention if the board fails in its duties.

People dealing with consultants in Canada now have two dates to watch: July 15, 2026, when the regulations take effect, and April 2027, when the public register must begin showing more detailed information. The College’s future communications are expected to shape how those rules operate in day-to-day practice.

The federal government announced the measures as a way to strengthen trust in immigration and citizenship services, with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants at the center of enforcement, disclosure, and restitution once the new rules come into force on July 15, 2026.