August 4, 2026
Mario Bellissimo Featured in New Canadian Media on the Future of Immigration Consulting
Recently, Mario Bellissimo was featured in the New Canadian Media article, “Raising the bar: Rebuilding Canada’s Immigration consulting profession”. The article discusses how changes to the immigration consultant licensing model have affected the profession.
Five years ago Canada replaced the immigration consultant licensing model, switching to one that focuses on examinations with graduate-level education, competency-based assessment, and ethical training. The article considers whether these reforms have meaningfully strengthened professional standards and public protection.
Bellissimo emphasizes that the success of the model should not be measured solely by its new educational credentials, or other inputs. Instead, he argues that the model should be evaluated based on measurable outcomes. These outcomes may include factors such as a reduction in complaints, earlier identification of competence concerns, fewer findings of misconduct, higher quality applications sent to the IRCC, stronger professional compliance, and a greater public confidence in the profession.
Bellissimo also notes that while graduate-level education is necessary to teach skills such as ethical decision making and legal reasoning, it is not sufficient to ensure professional compliance. It cannot eliminate greed, dishonesty, or intentional misconduct.
Furthermore, Bellissimo emphasizes that while professional education is important, it is only one element of public protection. His comments highlight an important distinction: raising the educational requirements for entering the profession is a significant step in the right direction, but the true measure of reform is whether it produces better professional conduct, stronger client protection and increased public trust.
Read full article: Raising the bar: Rebuilding Canada’s immigration consulting profession – New Canadian Media
Bellissimo Immigration Lawyers
BLGPC’s multicultural team encompasses many specialties and our staff members are among the most highly trained and most experienced immigration lawyers, consultants and clerks in the country. The standards for practice at BLGPC are rigorous and only those persons with key core competencies and extensive knowledge in the industry form part of the team