Canada may cancel visas for Indians, Bangladeshis, join forces with US

Internal documents reveal Canada is working with US partners to identify and cancel visitor visas flagged as fraudulent, citing "country-specific challenges" from India and Bangladesh under Bill C-12

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Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Department (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have been working with unnamed United States partners to identify and cancel visitor visa applications flagged as fraudulent, according to internal documents obtained by CBC News.

 

A departmental presentation to Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s office said the agencies were part of a working group exploring new authorities to refuse and revoke visas. The presentation described “country-specific challenges” related to India and Bangladesh, noting that the proposed powers could be used during a pandemic, a war, or against specific groups of visa holders.

 

What do Canada’s internal documents reveal?

 

In public statements, Minister Diab has mentioned pandemic and wartime emergencies as the justification for the proposed powers. However, the internal presentation suggested that the motivation extended to managing visa fraud from specific countries.

 

The measure is part of Bill C-12, which evolved from the broader border legislation Bill C-2. The government is now pushing for its swift passage through Parliament.

 

Why are rights groups and lawyers concerned?

 

More than 300 civil society organisations have criticised the proposal. Groups such as the Migrant Rights Network say the plan could create what they describe as a “mass deportation machine.”

 

Some immigration lawyers have also questioned whether the powers would be used to reduce Canada’s growing backlog of visa applications rather than purely for fraud prevention. 

 

How have visa delays and rejections increased?

 

The internal presentation noted a surge in asylum claims from Indian nationals, from fewer than 500 a month in May 2023 to about 2,000 by July 2024. It added that verifying temporary resident visa applications from India had slowed processing times from 30 days in July 2023 to 54 days a year later.

 

Approvals also declined, falling from over 63,000 in January 2024 to around 48,000 by June as more staff were diverted to verification.

 

The presentation further cited an increase in “no boards” - passengers prevented from boarding flights - during the summer of 2024. By 31 July that year, 1,873 applicants had been referred for further questioning and issued procedural fairness letters detailing their rights and legal options.

 

What are the government’s reasons for expanded powers?

 

A separate October 2024 memorandum to then Immigration Minister Marc Miller also called for expanded visa cancellation authority, though it did not name specific countries.

 

“The ability to cancel temporary resident documents reduces security risks and limits potential misuse of such documents,” the memo said. It added that the risk of judicial reviews would depend on “whether procedural fairness was followed.”

 

How is the government defending its actions?

 

In response, the Immigration Department said it had taken “concrete steps to minimise unnecessary border volumes, increase information sharing and reduce non-genuine visitors and illegal crossings at the border.”

 

The department added that heightened scrutiny of temporary resident visa (TRV) applications from “countries with the highest rates of abuse” had produced a 97 per cent drop in illegal crossings into Canada by foreign nationals since June 2024.

 

It also reported a 71 per cent fall in asylum claims from TRV holders in May compared with the previous year, and a 25 per cent rise in visa refusals for fraud between January and May 2025.