Canada to Reinstate Visa Requirements for Mexican Travelers to Stem Asylum Influx – Latest Updates

2024-02-29 07:36:00

The Canadian government will reinstate visa requirements for many travelers from Mexico, with the aim of stemming the influx of asylum seekers arriving at Canadian airports, according to a person familiar with the matter who confided the information to Bloomberg.

This announcement will be made this Thursday, said the person who spoke to the American media, on condition of anonymity, because the matter is still private.

On the other hand, Radio-Canada reported that this measure will come into effect at 11:30 p.m. Ottawa time, on Thursday night, to avoid a sudden avalanche of flights.

Likewise, Bloomberg detailed that Mexican temporary foreign workers and students will be among the groups exempt from the new travel requirements.

“An important step was taken,” said Christine Frechette, Minister of Immigration of the province of Quebec, in a publication through her X account.

The French-speaking province’s government has been arguing that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to tighten visa rules to stop the surge in Mexican arrivals. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Marc Miller, declined to comment on the issue.

It is necessary to note that Prime Minister Trudeau lifted visas for Mexicans in 2016, in an attempt to improve trade relations between the two countries.

This requirement had been established in 2009, when former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper was at the head of the Canadian government.

This measure comes following the number of Mexicans requesting political asylum in Canada skyrocketed in 2023, increasing 133 percent compared to the previous year.

Within the portal of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, the North American government indicated that, during 2023, it received 25,236 asylum applications from Mexicans.

However, only 2,894 were accepted, while 2,424 were rejected; In addition, 560 are classified as abandoned and there were 1,240 cases in which the person seeking refuge no longer continued with said process.

In this same table, the Canadian government maintains that it still has 28,165 applications pending since December 2012, when a new immigration system was implemented, until this same month of 2023.

This measure to return visas comes following strong pressure that the prime minister has received from different political actors who have asked him to reestablish these requirements.

On the one hand, Canadian media reported that Quebec Premier François Legault asked Trudeau to stop the influx of asylum seekers entering his province, which, he indicated, is close to a “breaking point.”

Legault sent an official letter to the premier, as reported by The Canadian Press, in which he stated that “we are very close to the breaking point due to the excessive number of asylum seekers arriving in Quebec month following month. “The situation has become unsustainable.”

On the other hand, the leader of the official opposition, Pierre Poilievre, urged the Ottawa government to reimpose visa requirements for Mexicans.

The call is because, since Trudeau lifted the requirements, there has been “an increase in fraud and abuse in the asylum system, straining Canada’s ability to provide services and creating long processing delays for thousands of applicants.” legitimate asylum claims before the Immigration and Refugee Board.

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