Canada deported 366 Nigerians between January and October 2025 as it intensified immigration enforcement at its fastest pace in more than a decade, according to official data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
The CBSA removals programme statistics also showed that 974 Nigerians are currently listed under “removal in progress,” meaning they are awaiting deportation from Canada. The data, last updated on November 25, 2025, placed Nigeria ninth among the top 10 nationalities deported during the period under review, and fifth among countries with the highest number of individuals awaiting removal.
A review of historical figures indicates that deportations of Nigerians from Canada have fluctuated over the years. In 2019, 339 Nigerians were removed. This figure declined to 302 in 2020, 242 in 2021, and 199 in 2022. Nigeria did not appear in the top 10 list in 2023 and 2024 but re-emerged in 2025 with 366 deportations recorded within just 10 months—an increase of about eight per cent compared to 2019.
These deportations are occurring amid a broader immigration crackdown in Canada. The CBSA is now removing nearly 400 foreign nationals each week, marking the highest removal rate in over a decade. In the 2024–2025 fiscal year alone, Canada deported 18,048 people, spending approximately $78m on enforcement efforts.
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the CBSA is legally required to remove foreign nationals with enforceable removal orders. Individuals may be deemed inadmissible for reasons including security concerns, human or international rights violations, criminal activity, organised crime, health or financial grounds, misrepresentation, or failure to comply with immigration regulations.
About 83 per cent of removals involve failed refugee claimants whose asylum applications were denied, while criminality accounts for roughly four per cent. Canadian law recognises three types of removal orders: departure orders, which require individuals to leave within 30 days; exclusion orders, which prohibit re-entry for one to five years; and deportation orders, which permanently bar re-entry unless special authorisation is granted.
The Canadian government says the intensified deportation drive is aimed at meeting revised immigration targets and addressing concerns related to housing shortages, labour market pressures, and border security. To support these efforts, Canada has allocated an additional $30.5m over three years to removals and committed $1.3bn to strengthening border security.
Concerns have been raised by immigration advocates that deportations could increase further if Bill C-12, also known as the “border bill,” is passed. According to Aisling Bondy, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, one provision of the bill could permanently bar certain individuals from filing refugee claims in Canada.
An analysis of CBSA data shows that Nigeria is the only African country featured among the top 10 nationalities for deportations in 2025. Other African countries are grouped under “remaining nationals,” which accounted for 6,233 removals in the same year. The top 10 countries for deportations in 2025 are 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 is the only African country listed among the top 10 nationalities in the removal-in-progress inventory. This list is 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 increase in deportations, Canada remains a major destination for Nigerians seeking better opportunities. The 2021 Canadian census showed that more than 40,000 Nigerians moved to Canada between 2016 and 2021, making them the largest African migrant group and the fifth-largest recent immigrant population 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, ranking Nigerians as the fourth-largest group to obtain permanent residency during that period, after Indians, Filipinos, and Chinese nationals. Between 2005 and 2024, over 71,000 Nigerians acquired Canadian citizenship, placing Nigeria among the top 10 source countries for new Canadian citizens.
Canada’s ageing population and persistent labour shortages continue to make the country an attractive destination for skilled professionals and international students from Nigeria.
