Enter your email below to receive weekly updates from the Ashton College blog straight to your inbox.
As of July 1, 2023, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) has implemented the RCIC-IRB Specialization Exam. With the IRB being a restricted area of practice, only Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) with a registered RCIC-IRB licence may be authorized to practice before the IRB.
Start preparing for your RCIC-IRB Specialization Exam by equipping yourself with the needed material and guidance to succeed.
Holders of a Class L3: RCIC-IRB License can proceed with unrestricted practice, including in front of the IRB. RCICs must go through the specialization program that ensures RCICs can practice before the IRB safely and ethically with the required knowledge, skills, and judgement learned in the program.
To obtain the Class L3 RCIC-IRB licence, the licensee must either be:
The RCIC-IRB Specialization Program ensures that RCICs have the knowledge on essential competencies for RCIC practice to be licensed in the class L3 RCIC-IRB licence. This program requires RCICs have the sufficient skills and judgement to practise before the IRB safely and ethically, as required of the licence. RCICs interested in obtaining this class of licence will have needed to complete either a graduate diploma program or complete the Education Pathway and pass the Specialization Exam.
RCICs who have not completed a graduate diploma must complete the specialization exam to be licensed. The Specialization Exam tests RCIC candidates on their competence to represent clients before the IRB through sufficient knowledge, skills and judgement.
The Specialization Exam is offered electronically online and consists of 190 questions to be completed within a 4-hour time limit. Candidates have a maximum of 4 attempts, in which after that point, they will need to meet further requirements to retake the exam. This exam scores based on the best answer, with no pass or fail quota. All test items undergo an item analysis to ensure that the RCICs final score is fair and reliable.
This exam tests RCIC on several essential competencies from knowledge-based to competency-based education and assessments such as:
RCICs should be able to consult on matters related to each of the exam's competencies.
Start your examination preparation with Ashton College’s RCIC-IRB Specialization Exam Prep Course. In this 32-hour intensive course on the Specialization Exam, set up for success by familiarizing yourself with the exam format, assessment criteria, and topics such as Case Management and Communication.
This course introduces the code of professional conduct and interpretation guide as an integral part of the exam journey. Dive into an overview of IRB history and structure as you complete learning objectives through reviewing the material such as:
Get equipped with the proper skills needed to excel without external aid. This prep course encourages independent thinking through an absence of reference materials, and instead embraces analytical and problem-solving skills that you would retain and apply in practice. In an engaged learning approach, participate in interactive discussions, simulated exam exercises, and collaborative learning.
For more information on the RCIC-IRB Specialization Exam Prep Course, click here.
If you would like information regarding the RCIC-IRB Specialization Exam, click here.
The information contained in this post is considered true and accurate as of the publication date. However, the accuracy of this information may be impacted by changes in circumstances that occur after the time of publication. Ashton College assumes no liability for any error or omissions in the information contained in this post or any other post in our blog.
