In response to a recent increase in asylum claims from Mexico, Canada declared on Thursday that visas for visiting Mexican nationals will be immediately reinstated.
“Mexican citizens will have to obtain a visa to come to Canada from now on,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said at a news conference, citing the necessity to keep “the viability” of Canada’s immigration and refugee system.
There will be certain exclusions, he explained. Mexican citizens coming to Canada will be able to apply for a simple electronic travel authorization if they have held a Canadian visa in the last decade or have a valid visa to the United States.
According to immigration records, Mexicans accounted for 17% of all refugee applications in Canada in 2023, rising from only 260 claims in 2016 when a previous visa requirement was eliminated to nearly 24,000 last year. The majority of recent claims have been rejected or withdrawn by applicants.
Miller stated that some Mexicans have been “coming through Canada and then going to the US.” Of course, these figures pale in contrast to the amount of people arriving at the United States’ southern border, he said.
A previous conservative government imposed Canadian visa requirements for Mexicans in 2009 to halt a similar surge, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s liberal administration repealed the measure in 2016.
In a recent letter to Trudeau, the province warned that the situation had reached a “breaking point,” and requested action to stem the tide of migrants.
Miller stated that the Mexican administration has already expressed concern with the new visa requirements.
“We attach great importance to our close ties with Mexico,” he said. “Mexico is and will remain an important partner.”