Category: Blog

Minister Chris Alexander travels to China!

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander is taking off for China, on a trip to promote Canada as a destination for business people, students and investors. This diplomatic travel comes right on the heels of the Minister’s February announcement to eliminate Canada’s Federal Immigrant Investor Program and Federal Entrepreneur Program, both exceptionally popular among Chinese investors looking to gain permanent residence in Canada. The Minister will travel to Hong Kong and Shanghai to promote the new focus of his immigration policy on Canada’s economic and labour market needs. He plans to outline visa options available to businesses, students, and families looking to settle in Canada.

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Judicial Review for Chinese Millionaire Investors!

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

A group of 95 Chinese millionaires have been granted leave to seek a Judicial Review in the matter of their dropped applications under Canada’s Federal Immigrant Investor Program. Citizenship and Immigration Canada closed this program to new applications in 2012, and in February 2014 announced the intent to terminate the program along with the existing backlog of 65,000 pending applications.

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Ontario proposes a Québec style Provincial Nominee Program

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

According to Ontario Immigration Minister Michael Coteau, Ontario wants what Québec has – a special agreement with the Government of Canada on immigration. Like Québec, Ontario too would like more power to choose its own immigrants and to set its own targets for attracting skilled workers to the province.

This past month the Ontario government introduced legislation proposing an expansion of the Provincial Nominee Program.

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Choose the right representative, don’t be a victim of immigration fraud

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

March is Fraud Prevention Month, and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander is encouraging newcomers to seek authorized immigration representatives to avoid being a victim of fraud. “Fraud is a very serious…

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Plan your March Break right!

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

March notes the beginning of spring, and the month when students in Canada have their Spring Break! Students have either one or two weeks of holidays from school to enjoy the beginning of a new season. Although March break dates vary between continents and school districts, it is widely known that March Break is one of the most popular travel times of the year. As March Break is not a national holiday, not everyone has the luxury of this mini vacation. However, fret not as there are still many March Break themed events you can check out during the week! Here are just a few events taking place in Toronto:

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Mario D. Bellissimo Interviewed in Lawyers Weekly Regarding The Proposed Changes to The Canadian Citizenship Act

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

Lawyers pan citizenship reforms Reporter: Cristin Schmitz Immigration and refugee lawyers have condemned many of the government’s proposed citizenship reforms as anti-immigration, convoluted and likely to spur litigation and constitutional attacks. The Strengthening…

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Tomorrow is International Women’s Day!

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

March 8, 2014 is International Women’s Day, an event celebrated in countries around the world. The day is to show appreciation for the women in our lives: mothers, daughters, sisters, partners, friends, neighbours, leaders, and inspirational figures. On March 8th we will be celebrating the lives and achievements of more than half of the world’s population! To read more about the history of the day see the official website.

So what are you doing for the women in your life this weekend?

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Canadian athletes at the Paralympic Games March 7 – 16!

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

Canada excelled this year at the XXII Winter Olympic Games held February 7 – 23, 2014. Today it’s time to cheer on our Paralympic athletes who will compete in Sochi, Russia this week from March 7 – 16, 2014! Each Olympic year, both the Paralympic and Olympic Games are held two weeks apart in the same host country and use the same sporting venues and organizing committee.

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Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Posted by admin - Bellissimo Law Group PC

On February 11, 2014 the Government announced its changes to the Federal Budget. Among these changes were new limits that will be placed on the TFWP (Temporary Foreign Worker Program). The government…

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Bill C-24 – Amendments to the Canadian Citizenship Act: Citizenship To Be Redefined, Re-positioned and Re-evaluated

Posted by Mario Bellissimo - Bellissimo Law Group PC

On 6 February 2014 the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-24, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. The Act proposes to fundamentally transform the meaning, scope and processing of Canadian citizenship. The important details, found within a complex set of proposed amendments necessitates a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the legal consequences of allowing mass changes to everything from eligibility to appeal in a larger-than-life overhaul of the legal landscape surrounding citizenship as we now know it in Canada.

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