Immigration Consultant Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for an immigration consultant job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of an immigration consultant. Feel free to use our Immigration consultant job description template to produce your own Immigration consultant job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as an immigration consultant.
Who is an Immigration Consultant?
An Immigration consultant is an individual who helps clients with completing all documentation and getting all the necessary permits required to facilitate their mobility or movement to another country. They specifically specialize in helping clients relocate to one area or a specific region or location. The immigration consultant is solely responsible for furnishing clients with important information about resources, overseeing the completion of documentation, and submitting data on behalf of individuals as mandated. The immigration consultant should also possess a mindset that some clients will travel with their pets and he or she should make necessary arrangements to ensure pets are transported effectively.
A successful immigration consultant shows diligence specifically when completing and submitting paperwork. An excellent immigration consultant will always alert clients of unavoidable foreseeable delays
Immigration consultants may not possess the legal expertise about immigration laws and visa laws about diverse procedures for obtaining different visas as it is required by some government authorities but not all. In the United States, for instance, immigration consultants are not mandated to have formal immigration law training and they are not allowed to respond to inquiries such as basic immigration legal questions. If they do such, it will be regarded as unauthorized practice of the law which is a serious crime. as a result of this, most organizations such as the Central America Resource Center recommend that all persons get immigration assistance and they should get it directly from a licensed attorney instead of an immigration consultant. In a country like Canada, they provide a certification known as Canadian Immigration Consultant through the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council while Australia provides the Migration Agents Registration Authority.
Immigration Consultant Job Description
What is an immigration consultant job description? An immigration consultant job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of an immigration consultant in an organization. Below are the Immigration consultant job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write an immigration consultant job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The following are the duties and responsibilities of an Immigration Consultant:
- Provide updates about immigration laws alteration or changes
This is the responsibility of an immigration consultant; they are always to provide updates because immigration laws that are not permanent. Most countries change their immigration laws and if immigration officers are not updated then potential clients will be misinformed. For instance, the Former United States America’s President 2017 placed a ban on some countries from traveling to the United States. This is sensitive information that every immigration consultant needs to know.
- Meet with potential clients to gauge the services they require
Immigration consultant, first of all, meets with prospective clients to discuss the services they offer and the kind of services the potential clients are interested in. The potential client for instance may be a student on a scholarship, and the immigration consultant will guide him or her on how to process his travel documents.
- Provide client with pertinent documentation
Immigration consultants a client’s information in a database. The information can be contact information, address, academic qualification, and the purpose of the client’s travel. This information is highly relevant for security purposes.
- Assist client with the completion of paperwork and ensures that it is submitted on time
An immigration consultant always employs time-management skills to ensure that everything works out smoothly. They assist clients and make sure that clients meet up at the appropriate time they are expected to travel to another country. For instance, an immigration consultant that is processing a client’s paperwork process to travel to India for a medical-surgical operation must ensure that the client meets up with the scheduled time for the surgery. Immigration consultants put in their best efforts to cancel every travel delay.
- Verify the authenticity of paperwork and supporting documents
Some people use illegal paperwork or falsify documents when they want to travel. It is your responsibility as an immigration consultant to verify the authenticity of any document a client present before preparing the necessary paperwork. If you accept clients anyhow without verifying the authenticity of their documents, it can put your career in jeopardy.
- Ensure that pets undergo medical checkups, and also provide appropriate accommodation to ensure they are transported in an efficient and legal manner
Most people are pet lovers and they love to travel with their pets from one country to another. As an immigration consultant, you need to make sure that medical checkups are conducted on pets so that there will not be any pet health challenges or challenges for your client traveling with them. Only fit pets should be allowed to travel and pets that are not fit should be immediately disqualified. In addition, you need to arrange proper accommodation for the pet to ensure a smooth and effective transportation experience for your client.
Other responsibilities of an immigration consultant are:
- Assist clients to find the appropriate shipping solutions
- Prepare and provide invoices for your services
- Assist clients in all facets of immigration including family sponsorship, express entry, refugee claims, permanent residency,or studying and working in another country
- Provide advice concerning green cards and legal issues which may occur while staying in a country
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree in law, international relations,or a similar field
- Proven experience as an immigration consultant preferably expertise in relocating individuals to more than one country
- Advanced knowledge of animal transportation or relocation procedure
- Top-notch research, fact-checking, and writing abilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to comfort worried clients
- Strict observance of all application deadlines
- A problem-solving approach to fulfilling duties
- Analytical skills
Essential Skills
An immigration consultant needs to possess the following skills and competencies to discharge his or her duties effectively and they are:
- Time- management skills: this is a core skill that an immigration consultant needs to possess to ensure that customers meet up with travel deadlines. They must ensure that they can process paperwork at a given time frame so that customers will not miss out on serious engagements such as international conferences or scholarships. They must also be very strict with clients to ensure that they observe all application deadlines; they should spell out the deadlines of an application to clients.
- Excellent Communication Skills: Good communication skills is very important to an immigration officer because they focus on communication with clients, government authorities, and team members. A good immigration consultant needs to develop an interpersonal bond with clients to retain them. Clients can come from diverse regions, nationalities, cultures, education, and backgrounds. You should also be sensitive to your client’s comfort zone and comprehend the context of your client. You should also look for the best communication channel that will work such as a communication channel to explain the procedure and work alongside your client. Utilize the knowledge you possess to everyone’s benefit and also be very professional will make you stand out as the most trustworthy and reliable consultant.
- Bilingual Skills: To be a successful immigration consultant, you must be proficient in more than one language. You should be fluent in your country’s lingua franca and any other language to be able to assist clients from different backgrounds. In the course of carrying out your duties, you will get to meet with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds so it is very paramount for you to be fluent in a second language to communicate with them effectively. To improve your second language skills, you can acquire a diploma in the second language or frequently communicate with people that are fluent in such language to possess the requisite skills.
- Ability to work with a team: this is a core skill every immigration consultant needs to have even if he or she is practicing independently. Teamwork is very paramount to your success because it will help you to perform your responsibility better. The job responsibility of an immigration consultant involves a large amount of workload that needs to be completed by different team members. As an immigration consultant, you will need to adapt to working with a team. The major aspect of teamwork is all about being able to work smoothly and effectively with the members of your team. As a member of a consultancy team, you need to motivate and energize the team whenever the members are feeling not motivated towards work. You also need to possess the ability to effectively interact with other members of the team to carry out your responsibilities as expected.
- Familiarity with the Law: an immigration consultant must know the law and policy of the country he or she is practicing as a consultant. To harness this knowledge; most immigration consultants are mandated to complete a professional training program at an accredited post-secondary institution. These training programs are structured to prepare students for a wide range of opportunities in the immigration consultancy field.
- Problem-solving Skills: as an immigration consultant, a problem can spring up in the course of you processing a client’s paperwork or travel documents. You need to have a critical or analytical mind to be able to apply the best solution to problems or challenges immigration consultants encounter when discharging their duties. A good immigration consultant should always be proactive and not reactive when performing their duties.
How to Become an Immigration Consultant
- Acquire a Bachelor’s Degree
Anyone aspiring to become an immigration officer must, first of all, acquire a bachelor’s degree in law, public policy, International relations, diplomacy, or any other related field. During this degree, you will get exposure to the diverse rules of your country and it is also very important for you to pass with a good score. This degree will also build your critical and intellectual ability that will distinguish you in the job market. The degree usually takes four years to complete and make sure you acquire the degree from an accredited university.
If you study a course not related to law, you can acquire a post-graduate diploma in Immigration and Citizenship law. For instance, in a country like Canada, acquiring a graduate diploma in Immigration and Citizenship law is a very easy route to becoming an immigration consultant.
- Get Licensure
You will need to acquire your country’s license for an immigration consultant to the practice. For instance in Canada, there is a body known as The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) which has the sole responsibility to supervise the licensed immigration and citizenship consulting an international student advising professional. To acquire the proper license, you will be required to pass the full Skills Examination conducted by the Immigration Consultant of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).
- Get Experience
To become a successful immigration consultant, you can start by acquiring relevant experience. You can enroll in an internship in a private immigration consultancy firm to acquire the requisite skills. In the course of this internship; you will get to learn how to process a client’s paperwork and also learn about immigration laws. The internship can be a paid internship or a voluntary internship. You can enroll for this internship after your bachelor’s degree. In addition, get close to a higher professional immigration consultant to mentor you about the processes and practice of the job.
- Draft Your Resume and apply for jobs
Create a good resume and highlight the following: your educational qualification, skills, contact details, and your experience. Make your resume very marketable to impress your potential employer. You should emphasize skills like communication, negotiation, and teamwork skills. After you have drafted your resume; seek out available job positions in your locality. You can also use social media to search out for open positions available to an immigration consultant.
Where Can an Immigration Consultant Work?
Immigration consultants work particularly in the transportation sector. He or she can practice as a private immigration consultant or work in an embassy of another country. Immigration consultants particularly work in an embassy of a country to process the travel process of their clients to another country.
Immigration Consultant Salary
- In Canada, immigration consultants earn $52176 per year. The salary comes with other benefits such as housing, transportation, and medical benefits. The salary may also vary based on the geographical location of the immigration consultant.
- In the United States, the national average salary of an immigration consultant is $83,325 per year. The salary may vary based on the location of the immigration consultant.