Airport Refugee Claims Fell 73 Percent After Ottawa Reinstated Mexican Visa Requirement

Travellers make their way through Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Nov. 14, 2022. The Canadian Press/Cole Burston

The number of refugee claims made by travellers passing through Canadian airports declined by 73 percent after the Liberal government reintroduced a Mexican visa requirement in 2024.

A report by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sent to the Senate social affairs committee on Feb. 9 said refugee claims at airports fell from 40,240 to 10,780 year-over-year during the period from January to November 2025.

The total number of refugee claims in Canada in 2024 also fell by 33 percent year-over-year, from 159,860 to 107,005, according to the report, “Statistics on Arrival vs Claimant Date,” which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Meanwhile, claims made at the land border increased by 40 percent during that period, from 13,400 to 18,725.

The fall in airport refugee claims coincided with the reintroduction of a requirement that air travellers from Mexico first obtain a visa. Back in 2016, the Liberal government removed the visa rule following complaints from the Mexican government.

At that time, a regulatory impact analysis statement predicted Ottawa’s decision to lift the visa requirement for Mexican travellers would cost around $262 million over the next decade, including $433.5 million in extra enforcement resources, which would be offset by $171.6 million in economic benefits through increased tourism and trade opportunities.

According to the IRCC, the number of refugee claims from Mexicans surged from 260 in 2016 to 23,995 by 2023, with around 60 percent of the claims being withdrawn or rejected. In 2023, asylum claims from Mexican citizens made up 17 percent of all claims from all nationalities, according to the IRCC.

In February 2024, then-Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced that Canada was reinstating its visa requirements for Mexican visitors.

“We needed to give Mexico, because of our friendship, the chance to rectify things,” Miller said at the time. “This clearly was not done, so we had to take a decision.”

The IRCC wrote in March 2024 that reinstating visas for air passengers from Mexico would save around $660 million a year, as that money would have been used to investigate whether refugee claimants were legitimate. The department wrote in a regulatory impact analysis statement that savings would total $6.6 billion over 10 years.

The IRCC said the $660 million in annual savings represented a “reduction in security screening, processing of claims, investigations, hearings, detentions, litigation and removals of failed asylum claimants.” The IRCC said the majority of Mexican refugee claims were abandoned, withdrawn, or rejected.

The document added that despite “extensive efforts” by both Canada and Mexico to address the situation, they had been unable to reduce the rise in asylum claims.