5. Protect your original documents and communications

Be careful about sharing original documents, like your passport or other identity documents. You should be able to give your legal representative a copy of documents for them to give you a legal opinion.

After you make an application, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or the (IRB) will tell your representative if they want to see original documents.

Applications to IRCC

You need to sign a Use of a Representative (IMM 5476) form if someone is helping you complete your application and:

you want them to be able to communicate with IRCC on your behalf, or
you want to help your child, or your partner, complete their forms and you want to be able to communicate with IRCC on their behalf.

Contact from IRCC

IRCC will not send you emails from a private or free webmail address, for example .yahoo or .gmail. They also will never ask you to reply to this type of email address.

All IRCC email addresses end with:

@cic.gc.ca
@canada.ca
@international.gc.ca
@notification.canada.ca

If you have any questions about any emails you receive, contact IRCC's Client Support Centre at 1-888-242-2100.

Representative at the IRB

For a licensed representative to represent you at the IRB, they need to send the IRB a Counsel Contact Information form.