Do 'free immigration consultations' actually give you free advice?
Most free consultations are sales calls — the firm assesses whether they can sell you a service, not whether you have a good case. Paid time-boxed sessions are how real advice gets given.
The truth
The 'free consultation' is an industry-standard lead-generation device. The call is typically 15-30 minutes, structured around three questions: (1) what's your situation? (2) what's your budget? (3) when do you want to start? The firm uses your answers to triage whether you're a viable client and to quote an engagement fee — usually $3,000-$15,000+ for representation through a process. They do NOT review your documents in depth, advise on visa strategy, or warn you about route refusals during the free portion. Real advice — the kind that involves reading your CV, your prior immigration history, your financial position, and recommending a specific application strategy — only starts once you've signed an engagement letter. The exceptions are charitable / pro bono services (Refugee Council UK, Free Movement, AIRA in the US) and platforms that explicitly sell time-boxed paid sessions (Visavu's model). Anyone offering 'unlimited free consultation' is selling something — usually a sponsored visa product or an investment scheme.
Why this rumour persists
The free-consultation model works as a marketing funnel for law firms and consultancies. It would be uneconomic to give real advice for free at scale. The friction is that applicants think they're getting advice when they're being sold to.
What to actually do
- Treat 'free consultation' as a sales meeting — go in with your questions written down, not your hopes
- Ask explicitly: 'will you tell me which visa route you'd recommend before I engage?' — most firms will dodge
- For genuine paid advice, look at fixed-fee time-boxed sessions (typically £100-300/hr) where you keep the written advice
- For asylum / refugee / settled-status work, free legal aid is available in some jurisdictions — UK has IAS / Refugee Council, US has accredited representatives
- Verify the adviser's registration: UK = IAA, AU = MARA, CA = CICC, US = state bar + EOIR-accredited