Complaints

If something has gone wrong with our service, we want to hear about it, and we want to put it right. This page is for clients, former clients and anyone who has dealt with Polinsys, and it explains both routes open to you: complaining to us, and complaining to our regulator.

Polinsys acts through its authorized representative, Joy Stephen, RCIC, CICC licence R419719, who is regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). You can check the licence on the CICC public register.

How to complain to us

You can write to us in either of two ways:

• Use the form at the foot of this page, and choose a short subject that begins with "Complaint".
• Email [email protected].

To help us act quickly, tell us:

1. your name and the email address on your file;
2. what happened, with dates, and who you dealt with;
3. any messages, receipts or invoices that show it (you can also upload these in your client account);
4. what you would like us to do.

Please do not post the details of your file on social media or in a public review. We keep client information confidential and cannot discuss a file in public, even to answer a complaint. Write to us directly and we can look at everything.

What we do with your complaint

• We acknowledge it promptly and tell you who is looking into it.
• The licensee is told. Every complaint is brought to the attention of Joy Stephen, RCIC, who remains professionally responsible for every file and every member of staff who assists on it.
• We look at the record. Your agreement, the messages on your file, the work done and the payments made.
• We reply in writing, saying what we found, what we will do, and why. Where we got something wrong, we say so and put it right: redoing work, correcting an invoice, or refunding where the agreement and the facts call for it.

The CICC Code of Professional Conduct requires a licensee to respond promptly to any complaint from a client, and our written service agreement sets out the same complaint procedure. If you are not satisfied with our answer, or would rather not come to us first, you can go straight to CICC.

Your right to complain to CICC

CICC is the regulator of immigration and citizenship consultants in Canada. It regulates in the public interest, and its complaints and discipline committees can suspend or revoke a licence. You may complain to CICC about a licensee directly. You do not need our permission and you do not need to have complained to us first.

What to know before you start:

• CICC accepts complaints only through its online portal. You create a College Portal account and file there. Complaints by email, on paper or by phone are not accepted, and a complaint cannot be anonymous.
• Have your evidence ready: your consultation or service agreement, messages, receipts and invoices.
• Start here: Make a complaint, CICC.

If the person you are complaining about is not licensed, CICC has a separate online form for unauthorized practice. Complaints about lawyers and notaries go to their law society or to the Chambre des notaires du Québec.

The CICC compensation fund

CICC keeps a compensation fund for people who lose money through a licensee's dishonest act. Under federal regulations in force since 15 July 2026, the fund can cover a financial loss caused by a licensee's dishonest act committed on or after 23 November 2021, where:

• you had a consultation or service agreement with the licensee, or reasonably believed the licensee had agreed to act for you; and
• you did not take part in the dishonest act yourself.

The fund is for clients of licensees. It does not cover money paid to unlicensed consultants, which is one more reason to check the register before you pay anyone. CICC's own website explains how to make a claim.

Fraud is not a complaint: report it

If someone asked you to pay for a job offer or an LMIA, promised a guaranteed visa, asked for money to a personal account, or told you to give false information, that may be fraud. Report it to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada through its online fraud form, to the Canada Border Services Agency, or to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. If anyone claiming to be from Polinsys has asked you for any of these things, tell us at [email protected] as well. Our anti-corruption statement explains why.

How Polinsys helps

• The procedure is in your agreement. Your written service agreement sets out how to complain to us and how CICC's complaints process works.
• You can raise it in person with the licensee. Joy Stephen hosts a Q&A most Fridays, open to clients and prospects. Details are at FREE Webinars: Resource Guides and AR Q&A.
• Your record is complete. Agreements, invoices, receipts and messages are all in your client account, ready if you ever need them, for us or for CICC.

To raise a complaint now, use the form below or write to [email protected].