About 1st Canadian Visa

1st Canadian Visa is a Canadian immigration consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa. They offer immigration consulting on permanent residency, work, and study visas for Canada. 1st Canadian visa claims to be regulated. However, the regulatory board they reference, the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), hasn't existed since 2021.

Furthermore, they claim to utilize Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) but do not give any names, pictures, or, most importantly, RCIC numbers. As a result, there is no way for the average consumer to ensure the legitimacy of this company or their services.

Also, upon checking the CCIC directory, there is no record of any RCICs working with the 1st Canadian Visa.

On top of this, when discussing the RCICs, they make multiple references to having only one RCIC but will also reference having multiple RCICs in the same content. On the FAQ page, they claim their RCICs have over 40 years of combined experience but have yet to mention any of the RCICs.

They have an introductory video that clarifies that their services are primarily for South Africans looking to emigrate. However, the video doesn't help their legitimacy, as it claims to be in the voice of managing director Duncan Andrew (who is not an RCIC), but it is AI-generated.

Their About Us page is also minimal, with no discussion of the company’s history and no images of any people working there. This is concerning as users need to see a single human working for the company despite having a clear address and premises. What makes this worse is that there is no breakdown of their services and prices, meaning that users only know what they're getting into once they are in close contact with the company.

The Website

The website is very simple and well-designed. Much of the simplicity comes from the need for more information. The navigation bar at the top of the page takes you to their three services, their home page, two short paragraphs of information on how their company can improve your application, a short contact page, a signup page for a free eligibility assessment, and, strangely, a link to the Canadian government's National Occupational Classification page.

Under each program link is a quick breakdown of each program. However, there is no further information on the site regarding Canadian immigration, visas, programs, or Canada itself. Instead, the site has a simple introductory video explaining why moving to Canada is a good idea and why getting help is essential.

Overall, the site is minimal and does little to show the company, the people behind it, the services, and how they will get you to Canada. The site also only has two testimonials, making it very difficult to learn about the quality of their services.

Social Media

1st Canadian Visa has very little social media. The only social media platforms they utilize are Facebook and WhatsApp.

Their WhatsApp is another way to contact them outside of telephone or email. Their Facebook page is highly active, with regular and continuing updates. Unfortunately, the content is straightforward and doesn't match the design quality evident on their website. Upon further investigation, you can find that Duncan Andrew writes articles about Canadian immigration via his LinkedIn page. However, this content remains separate from the website and briefly references the 1st Canadian Visa in each post.

Conclusion

Overall, if this company is legitimate, its website and social media do a disservice. Using a defunct regulatory body, lack of information on their RCICs, and general lack of information on their website significantly removes the company's legitimacy.

Their services seem relatively limited, and the extent of their services isn't described. The sheer lack of information on their website and social media put the legitimacy of the entire operation into question and has made this company a problematic choice for something as important as immigration.