CBSA 2026 Removals: India Now #1 — Full Country Breakdown, Six-Year Trend, and What Temporary Residents Need to Know

CBSA 2026 Removals — India Now the Number One Nationality Removed From Canada

The Canada Border Services Agency’s official removals dashboard — updated through July 2026 — confirms a shift with major consequences for temporary residents in Canada: Indian nationals have overtaken Mexicans as the largest single nationality removed from Canada, and the pace of removals for several other South Asian, Caribbean, and Latin American nationalities has accelerated sharply against 2024 and 2025 baselines.

3,717 Indian nationals were removed from Canada in the first seven months of 2026 alone — already close to the full-year 2025 total of 3,779, and more than the total Indian removals in any single year since CBSA began publishing this data. Total enforced removals across all nationalities in the first seven months of 2026 stand at 12,491, tracking toward another record year after 2025 posted 23,160 total removals — the highest annual total in over a decade.

2026 Top 10 Nationalities Removed From Canada (January–July)

Full country breakdown, sourced directly from CBSA:

India alone accounts for nearly 30% of all enforced removals in 2026 year-to-date — up from 16.3% of 2025 removals and 11.5% of 2024 removals. Mexico, which held the top spot every year from 2021 through 2025, has dropped to second place with volume roughly one-third of the 2025 pace.

The Six-Year Trend by Nationality

What makes the 2026 numbers striking is not a single-year spike — it is the trajectory. The full CBSA historical series shows a compounding shift over five years:

Source: CBSA removals dashboard. Where a cell is blank the country was not in the top 10 for that year.

The India trajectory — 603 → 786 → 1,132 → 2,004 → 3,779 → 3,717 in seven months — is a nearly seven-fold increase over five years. No other nationality shows a comparable curve. Haiti had a spike in 2025 (2,275 removals) that has since cooled sharply. Mexico’s numbers have dropped in 2026 as U.S.–Mexico border dynamics have redirected caseloads. Colombia, Romania, China, and Nigeria are running roughly consistent with their 2024–2025 baselines. The India increase is the singular story in the 2026 data.

What’s Driving the India Increase

CBSA does not break down inadmissibility grounds by nationality in its public dashboard, so it is not possible to state precisely why Indian nationals specifically are being removed at this rate. However, three structural factors are clearly at work:

1. Population weighting. Indian nationals became the single largest source of temporary residents in Canada during 2022–2024 — international students, PGWP holders, and TFWP workers. A larger denominator produces more enforcement events on any inadmissibility ground.
2. 2025–2026 study-permit and PGWP tightening. IRCC’s 2026–2028 Levels Plan caps total temporary residents at under 5% of Canada’s population by end of 2027, requiring a net decrease. Applicants whose status has run out — an expired PGWP without restoration, a study permit with breach conditions, a refused refugee claim — have moved to CBSA’s inventory faster than in prior years.
3. The removal inventory pipeline. The removal-in-progress inventory is not new demand — it is a backlog CBSA is now working through with increased resources. Reporting from the Indian Express citing the same CBSA data notes 7,669 Indian nationals currently in the removal-in-progress inventory, the largest nationality group by far. That pipeline alone points to continued high India removal volumes through the rest of 2026 and into 2027.

Grounds of Removal — What CBSA Actually Enforces

Removal orders are issued on distinct legal grounds under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In its most recent monthly-report cycle, CBSA identified the largest categories of enforced removals as:

• Non-compliance by refugee claimants — claimants whose claims were rejected or abandoned and who have not left voluntarily.
• Non-compliance among non-claimants — most commonly, temporary residents (students, workers, visitors) who have overstayed status or breached conditions such as working without authorization or studying at an unauthorized institution.
• Criminality — s. 36 IRPA inadmissibility, ranging from serious criminality (removal is generally without an appeal right) to lower-threshold offences.
• Misrepresentation — s. 40 IRPA findings, including undisclosed prior refusals, false educational documents, false employment references, and misrepresented family composition.
• Organized crime — s. 37 IRPA, a smaller absolute number but nearly always removal without appeal.

For temporary residents, non-compliance categories dominate. In practical terms this means the largest driver of the 2026 removal surge is not criminal — it is expired-status individuals who did not restore or transition to a new permit before their status ended.

What This Means for Temporary Residents in Canada Right Now

Whether you hold a study permit, a work permit (including PGWP), a visitor record, or you are a failed or pending refugee claimant, the practical action items are the same. Time is the enemy of a removal file.

1. Know your status expiry date. Put it on a calendar with a 120-day, 60-day, and 30-day warning. Restoration under R182 of the Regulations must be filed within 90 days of losing status; after that, restoration is not available.
2. Never let a PGWP expire without a plan. Whether the plan is Express Entry, a PNP, spousal sponsorship, a bridging open work permit, or a new employer-specific work permit, the plan needs to be in progress before the PGWP ends — not after.
3. Take a refugee-claim refusal seriously the day you receive it. The pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) window, Federal Court leave applications, and any humanitarian & compassionate application all have hard clocks.
4. Do not ignore CBSA correspondence. A “call-in” letter or directions-to-report letter has a specific date; missing it triggers a warrant.
5. Get counsel before, not after, a removal order becomes enforceable. A stay motion is possible before removal; there are far fewer options after departure. Judicial review from outside Canada is procedurally more difficult and often forecloses the ability to return.

The Bigger Picture — Why Total Removals Have Doubled Since 2022

Canada’s total enforced removals ran roughly 8,000–10,000 per year for most of the 2018–2022 period. In 2024 the total jumped to 17,397. In 2025 it hit 23,160 — the highest annual total in more than a decade. The 2026 pace (12,491 in seven months) suggests the year could close somewhere between 21,000 and 25,000. The CBSA’s 2026 factsheets confirm the agency is targeting 25,000 removals per fiscal year — up sharply from its historical baseline and now funded through the Border Plan announced under the 2025 federal budget.

In other words, this is not a temporary spike. It is a structural shift in enforcement capacity, and it will continue running at this cadence for at least the next fiscal cycle.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people has Canada removed in 2026?

CBSA’s official removals dashboard shows 12,491 enforced removals from January through July 2026. The 2025 total was 23,160 — the highest annual total in more than a decade. At the current pace, 2026 will finish in the low- to mid-20,000s.

Which country tops the 2026 removals list?

India, with 3,717 nationals removed in the first seven months of 2026 — nearly 30% of all enforced removals. This is the first year since 2020 that India has been the number one nationality removed. Mexico is second at 1,936, followed by the United States (510), Colombia (473), and Haiti (414).

What are the top 10 nationalities on Canada’s 2026 removals list?

In order: India (3,717), Mexico (1,936), United States (510), Colombia (473), Haiti (414), Romania (356), Bangladesh (269), Nigeria (260), Turkey (253), and China (230). All other nationalities together account for 4,073 removals.

Why has India moved to the top of the list?

Three structural factors: Indian nationals became the largest single source of temporary residents in Canada during 2022–2024, so the base population is much larger; the 2025–2026 study-permit and PGWP tightening has pushed more Indian nationals out of status; and CBSA’s removal-in-progress inventory currently holds 7,669 Indian nationals — the largest nationality group in the backlog — meaning the current pace is not new demand but a backlog being worked through.

What are the most common grounds of removal?

For temporary residents, non-compliance dominates: refugee-claim non-compliance (rejected or abandoned claims where the person did not leave voluntarily) and non-claimant non-compliance (overstays, working without authorization, breach of study conditions). Criminality (s. 36 IRPA), misrepresentation (s. 40 IRPA), and organized crime (s. 37 IRPA) are separate categories with smaller absolute numbers but usually no appeal right.

I have a removal order — is anything still possible?

Often yes, but the window is narrow. Depending on the type of removal order and where you are in the process, options can include a pre-removal risk assessment, a stay motion in Federal Court, a Federal Court leave application on the underlying refusal, a humanitarian & compassionate application, or in some cases a Temporary Resident Permit. Every one of these has strict time limits — usually days or weeks, not months. Consult counsel immediately.

Will removals continue at this pace?

Yes, at least through the current fiscal cycle. CBSA is currently funded for 20,000 removals in fiscal year 2026–2027 and is targeting 25,000 per year. The removal-in-progress inventory across all nationalities is well-populated. Expect the 2027 numbers to run in the same range as 2025–2026, not to return to the pre-2024 baseline.

Sources

• CBSA — Enforced Removals Dashboard (updated through July 2026)
• CBSA — 2026 Removals Factsheets (25,000 target; 20,000 fiscal 2026–2027 funding)
• IRCC — 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan
• CBSA — Efforts to disrupt extortion networks led to over 100 removals (September 2026)
• The Indian Express — Canada deports 3,323 Indians in the first six months of 2026 (context on the removal-in-progress inventory)

VG Immigration Services Inc. | Dimple Verma, RCIC-IRB R708308 | vgis.ca