About this policy
Counselors for Immigration and International Studies (CIS) is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is handled in a safe and responsible way. This policy outlines how we aim to achieve this and includes the information collected when:
- you use our website.
- you book an appointment on our website.
- you make inquiries on our website, our social media pages, or via email.
- someone is interested in working with us.
Definition of personal data
Personal data means any data that relates to an identifiable person who can be directly/indirectly identified from that data. In this case, it means personal data that you give to us via our site.
By providing your personal data, you agree that we can use your personal data in accordance with this policy.
Ensure you understand this policy in its entirety and take your time to read it.
Who are we?
Counselors for Immigration and International Studies (CIS) is a trusted group of educational consultants in the Philippines, providing world class services for young Filipinos who seek to work and study abroad. Established in 2014, CIS helps students choose the right education to propel them towards exceptional careers, in partnership with schools and educational sponsors in Canada, Australia, Germany, and New Zealand.
How do we collect information from you?
We collect information from you:
- when you visit our website.
- when you book an appointment.
- when you make an inquiry.
- when you sign up to marketing emails.
What type of information is collected from you?
You may be asked to submit personal information about yourself when you book an appointment. We will collect this information so we can fulfill your requests.
When you book an appointment, CIS collects information such as:
- title
- name
- e-mail address (used for booking confirmation and feedback emails)
- home or work address
- telephone number
- company name
- marketing preferences (whether you opt-in or opt-out)
When you access our site, there is device information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by CIS. This information may include:
- device type (e.g. mobile, computer, laptop, tablet)
- cookies
- operating system
- IP address
- browser type
- browser information (e.g., type, language, and history)
- domain names
- access times
- settings
- referring website addresses
- other data about your device to provide the services as otherwise described in this policy.
If you use our website, we may receive your generic location (such as city or neighborhood).
You may submit your CV if you’re interested in working for us to info@studyabroad.net.ph. This information may include:
- personal details
- employment details
- education
- salary history
- other relevant details
We will use this information to assess your application. We may also keep it in our records for future reference. Please get in contact if you would no longer like us to hold your records at info@studyabroad.net.ph.
How is your information used?
Our use of your personal data will always have a lawful basis, either because it is necessary to book an appointment, because you have consented to our use of your personal data (e.g. by subscribing to emails), or because it is in our legitimate interests.
We require the information outlined in the previous section to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:
- Internal record keeping.
- Send you service emails (appointment confirmation and feedback).
- Improve our services.
- Send marketing communications if you have opted in to receive them.
- We may use the information to customize the website according to your interests.
Who has access to your information?
We will not sell, distribute, or lease your personal information to third parties. Any personal information we request from you will be safeguarded under current laws.
We will only share your information with companies if necessary to deliver services on our behalf—for example, service providers, third-party payment processors, and other third parties—to improve our site and fulfil your requests, and as otherwise consented to by you or as permitted by applicable law.
Third parties whose content appears on our site may use third-party cookies, as detailed below. Please refer to ‘use of cookies’ for more information on controlling cookies. Please note that we do not control the activities of such third parties, nor the data they collect and use and advise you to check the privacy policies of any such third parties.
You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information at any point. Please refer to the ‘your choices’ section of this privacy policy for details.
How and where do we store data?
We only keep your personal data for as long as we need to in order to use it as described in this privacy policy, and/or for as long as we have your permission to keep it.
Profiling
We may analyze your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with information relevant to you. We may make use of additional information about you when it is available from external sources to help us do this effectively.
Your choices
We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless you have given your prior consent. We will not pass your details to any third parties for marketing purposes unless you have expressly permitted us to. Furthermore, you can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us by email at info@studyabroad.net.ph.
You have a right to request a copy of the personal information that CIS holds about you and have any inaccuracies corrected. Any such requests should be made to this email address: info@studyabroad.net.ph.
You have the right to withdraw your consent to us using your personal data at any time, and to request that we delete it. We do not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected.
Security
Data security is very important to us, and to protect your data we have taken suitable measures to safeguard and secure data collected through our site.
Use of ‘cookies’
Like many other websites, we use cookies. We use them to help you personalise your online experience.
A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server which allows the website to recognize you when you visit. Cookies only collect data about browsing actions and patterns, and do not identify you as an individual.
We use cookies for the following purposes:
- Authentication, personalization and security: cookies help us verify your account and device and determine when you log in, so we can make it easier for you to access the services and provide the appropriate experiences and features. We also use cookies to help prevent fraudulent use of login credentials.
- Performance and analytics: cookies help us analyze how the services are being accessed and used, and enable us to track the performance of the services. For example, we use cookies to determine if you viewed a page or opened an email. This helps us provide you with information that you find interesting. We also use cookies to provide insights regarding end users and site performance, such as page views, conversion rates, device information, visitor IP addresses, and referral sites.
- Third parties: Third party services may use cookies to help you sign into their services from our services. We also may use third-party cookies, such as Google Analytics, to assist with analyzing performance. Any third party cookie usage is governed by the privacy policy of the third party placing the cookie.
- Opting out: You can set your browser to not accept cookies, but this may limit your ability to use the services.
Our site may contain links to other websites. Please note that we have no control over how your data is collected, stored, or used by other websites and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.
Changes to this statement
CIS will occasionally update this policy to reflect company and customer feedback. We encourage you to periodically review this statement to be informed of how CIS is protecting your information. This policy was last updated in July 2020.
Contact information
CIS welcomes your comments regarding this policy. If you believe that CIS has not adhered to this policy, please contact us at info@studyabroad.net.ph. We will aim to use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the problem.