Starting Thursday evening, Canada will once again require tourist visas for Mexicans visiting the country In response to the sharp increase in asylum applications of citizens of the Latin American country.

The Canadian Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has clarified that Mexicans who have a visa to enter the United States are excluded from this measure. or those who have had a visa for Canada within the last ten years.

The decision will also not affect Mexicans with work permits. or study in the country.

The Canadian government explained that the new imposition of the entry visa for Mexicans “This is an important step to preserve the mobility of hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens while ensuring” the functioning of the country's migration and asylum systems.

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The number of Mexican asylum seekers rose from 260 in 2016, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government canceled the entry visa requirement, to 23,995 applications in 2023, a record number.

At the same time, 60% of these requests were rejected by Canadian authorities or have been abandoned by the petitioners.

The announcement follows intense pressure from the main opposition group, the Conservative Party, and the head of government of the province of Quebec, François Legault, to require visas for Mexicans.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador warned Wednesday that, “if there is no respectful treatment,” he will not participate in the Summit of North American leaders scheduled for April in Quebec.

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The government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper unexpectedly imposed entry visa on Mexicans in 2009 given the sharp increase in requests for refugee status from Mexican citizens.

The decision caused a cooling in relations between the two countries that only improved when Trudeau removed the measure in 2016, a few months after coming to power.

But for months, the leader of the opposition and Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, has linked the sharp increase in asylum applications, which in turn cause housing and social service problems, to Trudeau's decision to eliminate visas for Mexicans in 2016.

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On January 18, Legault, also linked the asylum seeker crisis facing his territory to federal government policies and asked Trudeau in a letter to tighten visa requirements.

Legaullt stressed that his province finds itself in an “intolerable” situation after the arrival in 2023 of some 60,000 refugee seekers.

EFE