Immigration consultant death causing me grief! - News - Jamaica Gleaner - Tuesday | August 13, 2013

Immigration officer's death causing me grief! - News - Jamaica Gleaner - Tuesday | August 13, 2013

Dear Ms Powell,

I paid J$86,000 to Mr Desmond Cherrington's Immigration Office in April 2011 for a job as a live-in caregiver.

In the contract, it stated that, if they have not found any work between six and 12 months, a full refund of my money would be granted. In April 2012, a year had passed and so I requested my money. They were charging me US$3,000 plus I would pay for my work permit, medical and airfare different from the US$3,000.

Half of that year, they were twisting me up and down, talking about the letter is not acceptable and to wait 30 days each time.

In January this year, I took out a summons. I didn't get a court date until May and at the court I heard that Cherrington is dead. I am not the only one, and several people have called the Ministry of Labour and Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) of Canada, and it's like they can't do anything because he is dead. I am so lost and don't know where to go from here. Please help!

- K.R.

Dear K.R.,

I'm sorry to hear that you are in this predicament. I have been notified that Desmond Rohand Cherrington died on or about April 25. He was a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) with Registration Number R40899 and, therefore, your starting place would be with the ICCRC.

Since I have received numerous letters about this, I will use this opportunity to highlight to other readers that the following notice was posted on the ICCRC website: www.iccrc-crcic.ca.

"The council has been formally notified of Mr Cherrington's death and has cancelled his registration as an RCIC.

Cherrington did not have any other RCIC as a business partner or substitute who could step in and assume his client files.

sort and catalogue

His family has recently delivered a number of Cherrington's client files to the council asking for the council's assistance to return them to the respective clients, or to transfer them to another authorised representative.

If you are a client of Cherrington Immigration, please email only the council at registrar@iccrccrcic.ca to ascertain if your file is among those received from the family. You will need to provide your full name and the date and place of your birth.

As we continue to sort and catalogue the client files, if we come across your particular file, we will set it aside. We anticipate being able to contact all clients whose files have been delivered to the council in the next few weeks."

In light of the foregoing, I recommend to you and all the persons affected to contact the ICCRC to see if your files are among the ones held by them and also to get information on how to contact his estate trustee directly.

I note that you appear to have had some difficulty with Cherrington long before he died.

Your first recourse should have been to contact the governing body to report your concerns before the problem escalated. I note that you went straight to the courts in an attempt to recover your money, which is fine. However, for future reference, if you hire another professional who fails to honour their contract, you should not hesitate to speak to the regulatory body first, if you feel that your representative is not acting "ethically or competently".

Going back to the death of Cherrington, based on your particular circumstances, I would recommend that you retain a lawyer to act on your behalf to assist you with recovery of your materials and to see whether or not you will be able to also recover funds from, hopefully, Cherrington's trust account.

Your concerns involve both immigration and estate law, so choose a lawyer or law firm with experience dealing with both issues. You will need to provide your lawyer with a copy of all correspondences with Cherrington, including a copy of the retainer agreement/contract and proof of payment of funds or receipt. You will also need to sign a letter authorising the ICCRC to turn over your file to your lawyer.

I hope that you and all the other persons affected by the death of Cherrington will be able to recover your documents and money in the near future.

Best of luck!

Deidre S. Powell is a lawyer, mediator and notary public who is a member of the Jamaican and Ontario, Canada bars, with main office located in Ottawa, Ontario. Her areas of practice are in immigration, real estate, commercial, personal injury, family and administration of estates. She is on the roster of Mediators for Ottawa, Toronto and the Dispute Resolution Foundation of Jamaica