Indians Top Canada Removals: 4,526 Removed in 2026, CBSA Data Shows

Indian nationals are now the largest group among people removed from Canada, according to Canada Border Services Agency data reported on Monday, November 2. The CBSA figures show 4,526 Indians were removed as of September 30, 2026, more than 27 percent of the 16,426 enforced removals in total. It is the first time since 2020 that Indians have formed the largest nationality group in removals. In the years between, Mexicans topped the list.

The pace is the story under the headline. Canada removed 3,779 Indian nationals in all of 2025, itself a record. The 2026 total passed that mark in nine months.

The trend line

The CBSA series, reported by PTI and carried by Outlook Business, shows how fast the numbers climbed: 603 Indian nationals removed in 2021, then 786 in 2022, 1,132 in 2023, 2,004 in 2024 and 3,779 in 2025. In the first half of 2026 alone, 3,323 Indians were removed, nearly 88 percent of the entire 2025 total, against 1,573 removals of Mexican nationals in the same six months.

The mid-year data also put 7,669 Indian nationals in the CBSA's removal-in-progress inventory, the largest group there as well. An inventory entry is a case moving through the process. It is not a completed removal, and it does not mean every case in it ends in removal this year.

What the data does not say

The CBSA publishes removal totals by nationality, but it does not publish a country-by-country breakdown of the reasons. So the figures cannot say how many Indian nationals were removed after a rejected refugee claim, how many overstayed, or how many cases involved fraud or criminality. Across all nationalities in the first half of 2026, most enforced removals were classed as immigration non-compliance rather than criminality. In the January to June totals reported by Canada Immigration News, 10,607 removals were enforced, with Quebec accounting for 5,467 and the Greater Toronto Area for 2,674.

That gap in the data matters for how the story travels. A removal total by nationality tracks the size of migration flows and the enforcement system processing them. It is not, on its own, evidence about why any one group is at the top of the list.

Why it matters

Canada has been tightening its immigration system through 2026, and the removal numbers are where that tightening becomes visible. For the large Indian student and worker communities in Canada, and for families in India weighing a Canadian move, the figures say the margin for a lapsed status, a refused claim or a missed deadline is smaller than it was five years ago. The removal-in-progress inventory, with Indians again the largest group, points to enforcement staying at this level into next year unless policy changes.

What happens next

The CBSA publishes its removal data in periodic updates. The next release will show whether the fourth quarter kept the 2026 pace and whether the full-year total sets a record by a wide margin. The Orbit Post will update this story when new CBSA figures are published.

Key numbers

• 4,526 Indian nationals removed as of September 30, 2026
• 16,426 total enforced removals in the same period; Indians were over 27 percent
• 3,779 removed in all of 2025, the previous record, passed in nine months
• 603 in 2021: where the current climb started
• 7,669 Indian nationals in the removal-in-progress inventory in mid-year data