The figures, last updated on November 25, 2025, indicated that Nigeria ranked ninth among the top 10 countries whose nationals were deported from Canada within the period under review.
The Canadian Government has deepened its crackdown on Nigerians as it deported 366 Nigerian nationals between January and October 2025 as authorities ramped up immigration enforcement to levels not seen in more than 10 years, findings from official records obtained reveal.
Data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) further showed that an additional 974 Nigerians are currently undergoing deportation procedures and have been placed in the agency’s “removal in progress” inventory.
The figures, last updated on November 25, 2025, indicated that Nigeria ranked ninth among the top 10 countries whose nationals were deported from Canada within the period under review.
Nigerians also occupied the fifth position among those awaiting removal, with 974 pending cases.
An examination of historical data showed that deportations of Nigerians from Canada have varied over the years.
In 2019, 339 Nigerians were removed, a figure that declined to 302 in 2020, 242 in 2021 and 199 in 2022.
Nigeria did not appear among the top 10 countries for deportations in 2023 and 2024 but re-entered the list in 2025, with 366 removals recorded within 10 months.
The 2025 figure represents an eight per cent increase compared to the 2019 total.
The rise in deportations coincides with Canada’s intensified immigration enforcement, with the CBSA now removing close to 400 foreign nationals every week, the highest rate recorded in over a decade.
During the 2024–2025 fiscal year alone, Canada deported 18,048 individuals, spending an estimated $78m on the exercise.
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the CBSA is mandated to remove any foreign national issued with an enforceable removal order.
Individuals may be declared inadmissible for reasons including security concerns, human or international rights violations, criminality, organised crime, health-related grounds, financial reasons, misrepresentation or failure to comply with immigration regulations.
Statistics showed that failed refugee claimants account for about 83 per cent of those removed after their asylum applications were rejected, while criminality is responsible for roughly four per cent of deportations.
Canadian law recognises three categories of removal orders: departure orders, which require affected persons to leave within 30 days; exclusion orders, which prohibit re-entry for one to five years; and deportation orders, which permanently bar return unless special authorisation is granted.
The Canadian government has said the intensified removals are part of efforts to tighten immigration targets and respond to challenges linked to housing shortages, labour market pressures and border security.
To support the drive, Ottawa has earmarked an additional $30.5m over three years for removal operations and committed $1.3bn towards strengthening border security.
President of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Aisling Bondy, has warned that deportations could rise further if Bill C-12, also known as the ‘border bill,’ is passed.
“One of the clauses in that bill is that a lot of people will be permanently banned from filing a refugee claim in Canada,” Bondy said.
An 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 accounted for 6,233 removals during the year.
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).
Similarly, Nigeria, with 974 cases, was the only African country among the top 10 in the removal-in-progress inventory.
The list was led by India (6,515), 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 deportations, Canada remains a preferred destination for many Nigerians in search of improved economic prospects.
The 2021 Canadian census showed that more than 40,000 Nigerians migrated to Canada between 2016 and 2021, making them the fifth-largest recent immigrant group and the largest African migrant population in the country.
Figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada revealed that 6,600 Nigerians obtained permanent resident status in the first four months of 2024, ranking them as the fourth-largest group after India, the Philippines and China.
Between 2005 and 2024, over 71,459 Nigerians acquired Canadian citizenship, placing Nigeria 10th among source countries for new citizens, with Canada’s ageing population and labour shortages continuing to attract skilled professionals and students from Nigeria.