Anyone can open an education consultancy in Lahore tomorrow. There is no licence to obtain, no exam to pass, and no register to be struck off. A shopfront, a signboard, and a printer is the whole barrier to entry.
We are one of those consultancies. So read the following knowing exactly who wrote it, and then ask us every single one of these questions.
The nine questions
1. "What is your commission on this college, and is there a cheaper option that pays you less?"
Institutions pay agents commission. That is normal and legal, worldwide. What is not acceptable is being steered toward the college that pays best rather than the one that fits you. Ask it directly. An honest consultant will tell you they earn commission and will happily show you a cheaper option. A dishonest one will get offended, which is itself the answer.
2. "Can you guarantee my visa?"
The correct answer is no. Nobody controls the case officer. If the person across the desk says yes, stand up and leave. They have just told you they will say anything.
3. "Are you a registered migration agent, and what is your MARN?"
This one has teeth. In Australia, giving immigration assistance for a fee without MARA registration is a criminal offence. Education agents recruiting students are a separate lane, but visa advice is not. Ask for the MARN. Ask to see it. If a consultant is charging you for visa advice and cannot produce one, you are being exposed to a risk they have not told you about.
4. "What happens to my money if the visa is refused?"
Get the refund policy in writing, before you pay anything. Not a verbal assurance. Not a WhatsApp message. Written, signed, with the conditions spelled out.
5. "Tell me about a case you lost, and why."
This is our favourite, because it cannot be faked. Every real consultant with real volume has lost cases. Someone who has never lost one has either done eleven applications or is lying. Listen to whether they blame the student.
6. "Will you tell me not to go?"
The most important question on this list. If your funds are not genuine, or your English is too weak to survive a lecture, or the course makes no sense for your background, will they say so, and lose the sale? An agent who has never once told a family to wait six months is not advising anyone. They are processing.
7. "Who is actually handling my file?"
You met the senior consultant. Good. Now find out whether the person preparing your Genuine Student statement is a trained counsellor or an unpaid intern with a template. Ask for a name.
8. "Show me your Google reviews, not your wall."
Certificates on a wall are printed by the person who hung them. Google reviews are written by people who can be contacted. Read the middle ones, the three and four stars, because that is where the truth lives. Ours are public and linked from our homepage: read them before you trust a word of this article.
9. "Will you put your advice in writing?"
Verbal promises evaporate the moment a visa is refused. If a consultant will not put the course, the costs, the timeline and the refund terms into a document you can keep, then they are keeping their options open at your expense.
The red flags, in one place
- A guaranteed visa. There is no such thing.
- Pressure to sign today, because "the intake is closing".
- Offering to arrange a bank statement or a "loan" for the file. This is fraud and it is your name on it, not theirs.
- Refusing to discuss commission.
- Only ever recommending the same two colleges to everyone.
- Discouraging you from getting a second opinion.
Why we wrote this
Because we would rather lose a family who is not ready than take a fee for an application we can see failing. A refusal follows a student for years, has to be declared to other countries, and is far more expensive than the intake they would have missed by waiting.
Ask us all nine. If we fail one, walk out.