Legal
Effective 28 July 2026 · Last updated 28 July 2026 · Version 1.0
Pathway Consultants (“Pathway”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is an immigration consultancy operating from Office No. 33, First Floor, Roomi Block, Sialkot Kutchery, Sialkot, Pakistan. We provide Canadian immigration advice and representation through a consultant who is a member in good standing of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), licence number 063414.
We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. That means we decide what information is collected, why, and how it is handled, and we are accountable for it.
The short version. We collect what we need to prepare your immigration application and nothing more. We do not sell your data, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not send you marketing messages on WhatsApp. We message you on WhatsApp only if you have asked us to, only about your own file, and you can stop it at any time by replying STOP.
This policy applies to personal information we handle when you:
It does not apply to websites or services operated by others, including the websites of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) or any Canadian visa office. It also does not cover WhatsApp itself as a platform, which is operated by Meta under its own privacy policy.
Immigration files often require categories of information that are treated as sensitive or “special category” under data protection law. Depending on your application this may include biometric identifiers, medical and health records, police certificates and criminal history, and — in protection and asylum claims — information about your religion, political opinion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or experiences of persecution, violence or torture.
We collect sensitive information only where it is necessary for the specific application you have retained us for, only with your explicit consent, and we apply stricter access and storage controls to it. Information relating to a protection claim is never used for any purpose other than that claim, is never used to market our services, and is never shared with anyone other than those listed in section 6.
We may receive information about you from a sponsor, a family member applying with you, an employer supporting a work permit, or a previous representative — but only where that person has the authority to share it or you have asked them to.
| Purpose | Basis |
|---|---|
| Assessing your eligibility and advising you | Steps taken at your request before a contract |
| Preparing, filing and following up on your application | Performance of our retainer agreement with you |
| Handling sensitive and special category information | Your explicit consent, and establishing or defending legal claims |
| Sending you updates about your file on WhatsApp | Your consent (opt-in), withdrawable at any time |
| Keeping records the CICC requires us to keep | Compliance with our regulatory and legal obligations |
| Securing our systems and preventing fraud | Our legitimate interests |
We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling, and we do not use it to train artificial intelligence models.
We use the WhatsApp Business Platform, provided by Meta Platforms, Inc., to communicate with clients and enquirers who have chosen that channel. This section explains exactly how we use it. It applies in addition to the rest of this policy.
We will only send you a WhatsApp message if we have your prior opt-in, obtained in one of these ways:
In every case we make clear who is asking, what messages you will receive, and that you can opt out. We do not buy phone number lists, and we never message a number that has not opted in.
We do not send marketing, promotional offers, discounts, newsletters, bulk broadcasts, or any message unrelated to your own enquiry or file. We do not use WhatsApp to advertise our services to people who have not contacted us. We do not send content that is prohibited by the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy or the Meta Commerce Policy. We never claim to guarantee a visa, offer to influence an officer, or promise faster processing, on WhatsApp or anywhere else.
When you message us, a 24-hour customer service window opens during which we can reply freely. Outside that window, WhatsApp only permits businesses to send message templates that Meta has reviewed and approved in advance. Any template we use is limited to the service purposes in section 5.2, and is sent only to people who have opted in.
Reply STOP to any WhatsApp message from us and we will stop messaging you on that channel. You can also email info@thepathwayconsultants.com, tell your consultant, or block our number in WhatsApp. We action opt-outs promptly and record them so the number is not messaged again.
Opting out of WhatsApp does not cancel your application or your retainer. If you have an active file, we will continue to contact you by email or phone about it, because we are obliged to keep you informed.
Messages you exchange with us travel through WhatsApp's infrastructure. Meta processes them in order to deliver the service, and Meta's handling of your data is governed by the WhatsApp Privacy Policy, not by us. We do not give Meta permission to use your messages with us for advertising, and we do not upload your contact details to Meta for ad targeting or custom audiences.
Business messages are stored on our own systems once received, and we may use a Business Solution Provider to operate the API on our behalf under a written agreement that permits them to process data only on our instructions.
Do not send passports, bank statements, medical records, police certificates or other identity documents to us over WhatsApp, and never send them to anyone claiming to be us until you have verified the number. Once your file is opened we will give you a secure method for sending documents. If a message asks you to send money or documents urgently to a new number, treat it as fraud and call our office on the number published on this website.
We share your information only where it is necessary, and only with:
We do not sell your personal information. We do not rent, trade or share it with data brokers, advertisers or agents, and we do not share it with any third party for their own marketing.
Because you are applying to Canada, your information will necessarily be transferred to Canada and processed there by Canadian government bodies under Canadian law. Our service providers may also store data in other countries. Where we transfer data internationally we rely on your explicit consent for the application itself, and we put contractual protections in place with our providers requiring an appropriate standard of security and confidentiality.
We use access controls so that only the people working on your file can open it, encrypted storage and transmission, device security on any machine that touches client data, confidentiality obligations on everyone who works with us, and locked physical storage for paper documents. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach occurs that is likely to put you at risk we will tell you and the relevant authority without undue delay.
Regardless of where you live, we will honour the following requests:
Email info@thepathwayconsultants.com. We respond within 30 days. We will ask you to verify your identity first, because immigration files are exactly the kind of thing someone might try to obtain by impersonating you. There is no charge for a reasonable request.
Our services are directed at adults. We do process information about children where they are dependants named in an application, but only with the consent of a parent or guardian and only as the application requires. We do not knowingly market to children, and no one under 18 should submit a form on this website on their own behalf. WhatsApp itself requires users to be at least 13, and in some regions older.
This website uses only what is necessary to make it work. We do not use advertising cookies, we do not run Meta Pixel or any other ad-tracking tag, and we do not build profiles of visitors. If we later add analytics (for example Google Analytics or Plausible), we will name the provider here and add a cookie banner before doing so.
If we change this policy we will update the version and date at the top of the page. If a change materially affects how we use your information — for example a new category of data or a new purpose for WhatsApp messages — we will tell you directly and, where consent is the basis, ask for it again. We will not apply a new purpose retroactively to data we already hold without your agreement.
Privacy questions and requests:
info@thepathwayconsultants.com
Phone: +1 825 250 4511
Post: Pathway Consultants, Office No. 33, First Floor, Roomi Block,
Sialkot Kutchery, Sialkot, Pakistan
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants at college-ic.ca, which regulates our conduct, or to the data protection authority in your country of residence. Complaining costs you nothing and we will not treat you differently for doing it.