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Canada has deported 366 Nigerian nationals between January and October 2025 as immigration authorities stepped up enforcement.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) figures show that an additional 974 Nigerians are currently listed as “removal in progress,” meaning they are awaiting deportation.
The data, last updated on November 25, 2025, ranked Nigeria ninth among the top 10 nationalities deported from Canada during the period and fifth among countries with the highest number of pending removals.
The figures mark a sharp rebound after several years of decline. Canada deported 339 Nigerians in 2019, with the number falling to 302 in 2020, 242 in 2021 and 199 in 2022.
Nigeria did not feature among the top 10 deported nationalities in 2023 and 2024 but returned to the list in 2025, recording 366 removals in just 10 months, an increase of about eight per cent compared with 2019.
Credit: Radiospace
Under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the CBSA is legally required to remove any foreign national subject to an enforceable removal order.
Grounds for inadmissibility include security concerns, criminal activity, organised crime, human or international rights violations, health or financial reasons, misrepresentation, and non-compliance with immigration rules.
The government has said the intensified deportation drive is part of efforts to meet tighter immigration targets and address challenges such as housing shortages, labour market pressures and border security.
Aisling Bondy, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, warned that deportations could rise further if Bill C-12, known as the “border bill,” is passed.
She noted that one provision of the bill would permanently bar many individuals from filing refugee claims in Canada.
An analysis of CBSA data shows Nigeria is the only African country among the top 10 nationalities deported in 2025. Other African countries fall under the category of “remaining nationals,” which together accounted for 6,233 removals during the year.
Mexico topped the deportation list 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 trend appears in the “removal in progress” category, where Nigeria is again the only African country in the top 10, with 974 cases. India leads with 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 rise in deportations, Canada remains a key destination for Nigerians seeking better economic and educational opportunities.
The 2021 census showed that more than 40,000 Nigerians migrated to Canada between 2016 and 2021, making them the largest African migrant group and the fifth-largest cohort of recent immigrants.
Canada’s ageing population and ongoing labour shortages continue to draw skilled Nigerian professionals and students, even as immigration enforcement becomes increasingly stringent.
