I am constantly asked whether it makes a difference to hire an immigration lawyer or an immigration consultant. I generally reply that what matters is the individual, not the profession.
The statistics, to the extent that they matter since general statistics don’t reflect the complexities of files that individual practicioners may take, reveal the following.
First, most applicant are unrepresented, however, the percentage of individuals who hire a lawyer or consultant is increasing somewhat dramatically.
As far as approval rates go, the data shows that there is statistically no difference between hiring an immigration lawyer or a regulated immigration consultant, with the exception of protected persons, where for reasons I am not sure of the approval rate for consultants is quite low in certain years.
There is, however, a noticeable difference in approval rates on temporary residence files. Indeed, the statistics there show that the average approval rating for individuals represented by lawyers is higher than unrepresented individuals, which is then higher than individuals represented by consultants.
I do not know why it is the case that there is no real difference in the approval rate for permanent residence applications, and a more noticeable difference for temporary residence applications.
The raw data for this can be found here: https://s3.console.aws.amazon.com/s3/object/cdn.stevenmeurrens.com?region=us-east-1&prefix=docs/1A-2022-11513.pdf
A-2021-40614 Release package