Immigration department refused more than 20,000 visas from World Cup fans

Of note:

The immigration department refused more than 20,000 visa applications from foreign nationals who applied to come to Canada for the FIFA World Cup, official figures show. 

Canada played host to 13 games in Toronto and Vancouver in June and July, issuing 26,000 visas to visitors, including people invited by FIFA to work at the tournament. 

However, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada refused another 20,845 visa applications related to the tournament. It refused an additional 205 electronic travel authorizations for visa-exempt foreign nationals. 

Among the refused visa applications were 3,135 from Ghanaian fans. IRCC approved only 470 visas for Ghanaians, whose national team played Panama on June 17 in Toronto. …

According to new data provided to The Globe, the department refused applications from 1,965 Nigerians who wanted to come to Canada for the international soccer tournament, which Canada co-hosted with the United States and Mexico. Only 220 Nigerian fans who applied for visas were approved to come here for the World Cup….

Toronto immigration lawyer Stephen Green said Canada’s immigration officers would have closely vetted applications, including to see if applicants had enough money to support themselves while they were here. 

“They were checking for whether or not someone would leave at the end of their proposed visit,” he added. 

Templar Kalundu Iga, director of policy and global strategy at the Canadian Centre for African Affairs and Policy Research, said the comparatively high volumes of visa applications from Nigeria and Ghana were not surprising, with both being major footballing nations. 

But he said there was a “pronounced disparity between approvals and refusals,” noting that 90 per cent of applications from Nigeria were declined and 87 per cent from Ghana.

“The World Cup could have been used to deepen our understanding of African tourism, diaspora mobility and investment flows, while connecting immigration policy to the objectives of Canada’s Africa Strategy,” he said in an e-mail. “Instead, the data risk presenting African mobility principally through the language of immigration risk.”…

Source: Immigration department refused more than 20,000 visas from World Cup fans