In this article, we review the case of Ms. Angelina Codina who is a fake immigration lawyer, and we will review what a fake immigration lawyer can teach us to avoid other fake immigration lawyers.
It all started with a case…
A few days ago, I encountered one of the supreme court cases in Ontario, writing briefly about immigration consultants and lawyers. Mrs. Angelina Codina is one of the most prominent fake immigration consultants/lawyers. She has been imprisoned since 2000 for nine years in prison for working as an immigration lawyer without authorization in New York. In 2009, after being released, she moved to Ontario, Canada and performed as a fake immigration lawyer for another five years and received vast amounts of money by giving false/misleading claims to her clients without providing them with any services.
Ms. Goli Amirpur and her brother were among the dozens of clients abused by Ms. Codina. Ms. Amirpur has given her C$ 24,000, but Ms. Codina has not done anything for the applicant’s immigration to Canada. You can read details of this news here:
http://www.lawtimesnews.com/author/yamri-taddese/angelina-codina-facing-legal-troubles-again-11285/
From 2014 to 2016, despite several charges against Ms. Codina, she continued her unauthorized practice, which is currently adding five more charges against her on activities as an unauthorized immigration lawyer. Her appeal has not been approved by the end of this year. You can find details of this case here.
The Lessons Learned
We can conclude on Ms. Codina’s case the following points:
1- Always use authorized immigration lawyers or immigration consultants. The legal responsibility in this regard is on the client to ensure the legality of their counsel/lawyer. For Immigration Consultants, you can search for the consultant’s profile on the ICCRC website. For example, the search for any consultant’s profile (i.e. First Name: Jubin – Surname: Ahdi Shoghi or License number: R526521) on this website specifies the status of a permit to provide immigration services.
2- Ms. Codina could attract her customer’s confidence because many would trust her based on her appearance. Race, skin colour, gender, etc., does not necessarily affect the integrity or lack of integrity/skill or lack of mastery of an attorney or immigration consultant. It should be noted that appearances could be pretty misleading. It is suggested that you consult with several authorized lawyers/immigration consultants (as described in clause 1) and work with someone who is both licensed and you feel comfortable working with.
3- Since the activities of immigration consultants are always under the supervision of the ICCCR (Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council), they will always be cautious in providing their advice. As a result, whenever you receive a proposal that was too good to be true, it is probably not true. Immigration consultants do not (and are not authorized to) guarantee any result, provide you with any timeframe for your application, or agree on contingency billing.
Wishing you all a very smooth immigration
Jubin Ahdi Shoghi, RCIC
