Canada deported 366 Nigerian nationals between January and October 2025, reflecting a sharp rise in immigration enforcement as the country carries out removals at its fastest pace in more than a decade, official figures have shown.
Data obtained from the Canada Border Services Agency’s removals programme also indicated that 974 Nigerians are currently listed under “removal in progress,” meaning they are awaiting deportation from the country.
The statistics, last updated on November 25, 2025, placed Nigeria ninth among the top 10 nationalities deported from Canada during the period under review. Nigeria also ranked fifth among countries with the highest number of individuals awaiting removal.
A review of historical data showed fluctuating deportation figures for Nigerians over the years. In 2019, Canada deported 339 Nigerians. The number declined to 302 in 2020, fell further to 242 in 2021, and dropped to 199 in 2022. Nigeria did not appear among the top 10 deported nationalities in 2023 and 2024 but re-emerged in 2025 with 366 removals recorded within 10 months.
The 2025 figure represents an increase of about eight per cent compared with the 2019 total, underscoring the scale of Canada’s renewed enforcement push.
The rise in deportations coincides with a broader immigration crackdown by Canadian authorities. The CBSA is now removing close to 400 foreign nationals each week, the highest rate recorded in over 10 years. In the 2024–2025 fiscal year alone, Canada deported 18,048 people, at a cost of approximately $78m.
Under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the CBSA is legally required to remove any foreign national subject to an enforceable removal order. Individuals may be deemed inadmissible for a range of reasons, including criminality, security concerns, human rights violations, health grounds, misrepresentation, financial reasons, or failure to comply with immigration rules.
Officials said about 83 per cent of those removed are failed refugee claimants whose asylum applications were rejected, while criminality accounts for roughly four per cent of removals.
Canadian law recognises three categories of removal orders: departure orders, which require individuals to leave the country within 30 days; exclusion orders, which bar re-entry for a period of one to five years; and deportation orders, which permanently prohibit return unless special authorisation is granted.
The federal government has defended the intensified deportation drive as part of efforts to meet immigration targets and ease pressure on housing, employment, and border security. Authorities have allocated an additional $30.5m over three years to strengthen removal operations, alongside a separate $1.3bn investment in border security.
Concerns have been raised by refugee advocates that removals could increase further if proposed legislation, Bill C-12—often referred to as the border bill—is passed. The president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Aisling Bondy, warned that the bill could permanently bar many individuals from making refugee claims in Canada.
CBSA data showed that Nigeria is the only African country listed among the top 10 nationalities deported from Canada in 2025. Other African countries were grouped under “remaining nationals,” which together accounted for 6,233 removals during the year.
The top 10 countries for deportations in 2025 were Mexico with 3,972 removals, followed by India (2,831), Haiti (2,012), Colombia (737), Romania (672), the United States (656), Venezuela (562), China (385), Nigeria (366), and Pakistan (359).
A similar pattern appeared in the removal-in-progress inventory, where Nigeria again stood as the only African country in the top 10. India led the list with 6,515 cases, followed by Mexico (4,650), the United States (1,704), China (1,430), Nigeria (974), Colombia (895), Pakistan (863), Haiti (741), Brazil (650), and Chile (621).
Despite the rising deportation figures, Canada remains a major destination for Nigerians seeking education, employment, and improved living conditions. The 2021 Canadian census showed that more than 40,000 Nigerians migrated to Canada between 2016 and 2021, making them the largest African migrant population in the country and the fifth-largest recent immigrant group overall.
Further data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada revealed that 6,600 Nigerians became new permanent residents in the first four months of 2024 alone, ranking Nigeria fourth behind India, the Philippines, and China.
Between 2005 and 2024, more than 71,459 Nigerians acquired Canadian citizenship, placing Nigeria 10th among countries of origin for new Canadian citizens, a trend driven largely by Canada’s ageing population and demand for skilled labour.
