Canada To Lift Visa Requirements For Mexican Citizens

On June 28, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally announced that the Temporary Resident Visa ("TRV") requirement for citizens of Mexico travelling to Canada will be eliminated as of December 1, 2016.  However, the existing TRV requirement will continue until November 30, 2016.  Mexican citizens who wish to travel to Canada before December 1, 2016, will still need to obtain a TRV from a Canadian consular post.

This announcement reverses Canada's prior decision to impose TRV requirements on Mexican citizens, which became effective on July 14, 2009.  At the time, Citizenship and Immigration Canada ("CIC") indicated that Mexican refugee cases had almost tripled since 2005, making it the number one source country for refugee claims. In 2008, more than 9,400 claims filed in Canada came from Mexican nationals, representing 25 per cent of all claims received. Of the Mexican claims reviewed and finalized in 2008 by the Immigration and Refugee Board, an independent