THE GROUND RULES
Terms of Use & Client Terms
The terms on which you use this website, and what you can expect if you engage us. Written to be read, because terms nobody reads protect nobody.
Last updated 2 September 2026
THE FULL TERMS
Nine sections, in plain language
Everything on igochepatrick.com is general information about Canadian immigration law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not make you our client.
Immigration outcomes turn on details: a date, a document, a word in a job description. Two people with apparently identical situations can receive opposite decisions for reasons that only emerge on a proper review. Nothing written for a general audience can account for that.
An advice relationship begins only when we have assessed your circumstances and you have signed a written retainer agreement with us. Until that happens, please do not act or refrain from acting on the basis of anything on this site.
We date the figures we publish and we correct them when things change. Even so, immigration law moves quickly, and a page accurate on the day it was written may not be accurate when you read it.
This site includes calculators and checkers: a CRS estimator, a French level converter, eligibility and deadline checkers, a funding calculator and others.
They run entirely inside your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us, stored or seen by anyone. You can use them anonymously and we have no record that you did.
They are also estimates against published criteria, not assessments of your case. They apply general rules to the answers you give. They cannot see your documents, your history or the facts that most often decide an application, and they are not a substitute for advice.
An officer decides your application. A tool on a website does not, and neither does a consultant.
We do not guarantee any immigration outcome, and nobody honestly can. Decisions belong to officers applying published criteria and exercising judgment, and they are not ours to promise.
Anyone who guarantees you an approval, a visa or a job offer is either misunderstanding their role or misrepresenting it. In our experience it is usually the second. If you have been offered a guarantee, treat it as a reason to seek a second opinion rather than a reason to sign.
What we do commit to is honest assessment, competent preparation, meeting deadlines, and telling you plainly when we think an application will not succeed, even when saying so costs us the work.
If you decide to work with us, the relationship is set out in a written retainer agreement signed before any substantive work begins. Our regulator requires this, and it protects you more than it protects us.
The retainer states what we will do and what falls outside it, the fixed professional fee, what disbursements and government fees are payable separately, and how either of us may end the relationship. If something is not in the retainer, it is not part of the engagement, so please read it and ask about anything unclear before signing.
Consultations. The first consultation is free and is a genuine assessment rather than a sales call. It does not create a retainer, and a meaningful number end with us advising that now is not the time to apply.
Your obligations. Immigration applications depend on complete and truthful information. You agree to give us accurate information and documents, to tell us promptly when your circumstances change, and to meet the deadlines we give you. Misrepresentation carries serious consequences under Canadian law, including bars on future applications, and we will not participate in it.
Fees. Professional fees are ours. Government fees are set by IRCC and other authorities and are payable regardless of outcome. A refusal does not entitle you to a refund of a government fee, and it does not automatically entitle you to a refund of professional fees for work already properly performed.
In Canada only certain people may give immigration advice or representation for a fee: lawyers and Quebec notaries in good standing, paralegals licensed in Ontario, and consultants who are members of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.
Ubuntu Worldwide is regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under registration number R731653. You can and should verify any representative on the College’s public register before paying anyone.
A further distinction matters if your matter involves the Immigration and Refugee Board. Since 1 July 2023, appearing before the Board has been a restricted area of practice, and only consultants holding the RCIC-IRB licence may represent you at a refugee hearing, a refugee appeal, a detention review or an immigration appeal. A standard consultant may not.
You are also entitled to be represented by nobody at all. IRCC states plainly that you do not need to hire a representative, and that using one does not draw special attention to your application or make approval more likely. Free assistance may be available through legal aid and settlement agencies, and for many people that is the right choice.
Tell us first. Most problems are misunderstandings about scope, timing or what a decision actually said, and they are usually resolved quickly if raised early. Email info@ubuntuwic.ca and we will respond.
If you remain dissatisfied, the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants operates a complaints process that is independent of us. We will not obstruct or discourage a complaint, and we will tell you how to make one if you ask. Regulated consultancies also carry mandatory professional insurance.
If your concern is about how we handled your personal information, our Privacy Policy explains how to raise it and how to escalate to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
You may read, print and share this site for your own use. The text, tools, design and images are ours or licensed to us, and you may not republish substantial parts of them as your own or use them commercially without permission.
If you would like to quote or reference something here, that is usually fine. Please attribute it and link back rather than copying it wholesale.
You agree not to attempt to interfere with the site, gain unauthorised access to any part of it, or use automated tools to extract content at a scale that burdens it.
Where we link to government or third-party sites, we do so because they are useful. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, which can change without notice.
We provide this website as it is. We take care over accuracy and date what we publish, but we cannot warrant that everything is complete, current or applicable to your circumstances, because immigration law changes constantly and often at short notice.
To the extent the law permits, we are not liable for loss arising from reliance on general information published here, as distinct from advice given to you under a signed retainer. Our responsibilities to clients are governed by that retainer, by our professional obligations and by the law, none of which this page displaces or limits.
Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, and nothing here limits your rights under Canadian consumer protection or privacy legislation.
Changes. We may update these terms, and the date at the top shows when we last did. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the current version.
Governing law. These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there.
Contact. Ubuntu Worldwide Immigration Consulting Inc., Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Email info@ubuntuwic.ca. For privacy matters see our Privacy Policy.
If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
