By RismadarVoice Reporters
January 3, 2026
Canada have deported no fewer than 366 Nigerians between January and October 2025 as the country intensified its immigration enforcement at the fastest pace recorded in over a decade, official data obtained from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has revealed.
The data, drawn from the CBSA removals programme and updated on November 25, 2025, also showed that an additional 974 Nigerians are currently listed in Canada’s “removal in progress” inventory, awaiting deportation.
With this figure, Nigeria ranked ninth among the top 10 nationalities deported from Canada in 2025 and fifth among countries with the highest number of pending removals.
A breakdown of the statistics indicates fluctuating deportation trends for Nigerians over the years.
In 2019, 339 Nigerians were removed from Canada, a figure that dropped to 302 in 2020, 242 in 2021, and 199 in 2022.
Nigeria did not appear among the top 10 deported nationalities in 2023 and 2024 but re-emerged in 2025 with 366 deportations recorded within just 10 months, an eight per cent increase compared to 2019.
The deportations are part of a broader immigration enforcement drive by Canadian authorities.
In the 2024–2025 fiscal year alone, Canada removed 18,048 foreign nationals at an estimated cost of $78 million, with the CBSA now deporting nearly 400 individuals weekly, the highest rate in more than 10 years.
Under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the CBSA is legally required to remove any foreign national issued an enforceable removal order.
Individuals may be deemed inadmissible on several grounds, including criminality, security concerns, organized crime, misrepresentation, non-compliance with immigration rules, financial or health grounds, and violations of human or international rights.
Data showed that failed refugee claimants accounted for about 83 per cent of deportations, while criminality represented approximately four per cent.
Canadian law recognises three types of removal orders: departure orders, which require individuals to leave within 30 days; exclusion orders, which bar re-entry for one to five years; and deportation orders, which permanently prohibit return without special authorization.
The Canadian government said the renewed enforcement push is aimed at tightening immigration targets, addressing mounting concerns over housing shortages, labour market pressures and border security.
To support the effort, Ottawa has allocated an additional $30.5 million over three years to strengthen removal operations, alongside a $1.3 billion commitment to enhance border security.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised by refugee advocates that deportations could increase further.
The President of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Aisling Bondy, warned that proposed legislation, Bill C-12, also known as the “border bill” could permanently bar many individuals from filing refugee claims in Canada if passed.
Analysis of the CBSA data showed that Nigeria is the only African country listed among the top 10 nationalities deported in 2025.
Other African countries were grouped under “remaining nationals,” which collectively accounted for 6,233 removals.
The top 10 countries for deportations in 2025 were Mexico (3,972), India (2,831), Haiti (2,012), Colombia (737), Romania (672), the United States (656), Venezuela (562), China (385), Nigeria (366) and Pakistan (359).
In the removal-in-progress category, Nigeria again emerged as the only African nation in the top 10, with 974 cases pending.
Despite the rising deportation figures, Canada remains a major destination for Nigerians seeking education, employment, improved living standards.
The 2021 Canadian census showed that over 40,000 Nigerians migrated to Canada between 2016 and 2021, making them the largest African migrant group and the fifth-largest recent immigrant population.
Further data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada indicated that 6,600 Nigerians obtained permanent residency in the first four months of 2024 alone, ranking fourth behind India, the Philippines and China.
Between 2005 and 2024, more than 71,459 Nigerians acquired Canadian citizenship, placing Nigeria 10th among source countries for new citizens.
