New Delhi: Amid stricter immigration policies under the Mike Carney government, Canada approved less than 30 percent of visitor visa applications from India for the FIFA World Cup, placing India among the countries with the lowest approval rates despite submitting one of the largest volumes of applications. The World Cup is being co-hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico. Canada is hosting 13 matches across Toronto and Vancouver.
Figures released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) show that nearly 17,000 World Cup-related visitor visa applications from more than 160 countries and territories were processed between 14 November, 2025, and 31 March, 2026.Overall, 41 percent of applications were approved.
India fell to the fourth place in the visa approval category with only 30 percent of total applications being approved.The measures come as Canada pursues a stringent immigration policy, reversing decades of visa rules amid mounting public service and affordability crises. In 2025, the Canadian government announced massive changes to reduce immigration after a spike in population of 3.2 percent. This was the fastest annual growth recorded since 1957.According to Statistics Canada, much of that increase was driven by temporary foreign workers and international students. Without temporary residents, the government has said, population growth would have been roughly one-third as large.Ottawa has since set a target of reducing the share of non-permanent residents to below 5 percent of Canada’s population by the end of 2027. To achieve that goal, the Carney led government tightened rules governing international students, scaled back temporary worker programmes and reduced permanent immigration targets.The policy shift began in late 2024, when the government announced lower immigration admissions, including cuts to permanent resident intake. India accounted for the largest share of new permanent residents, followed by the Philippines, China, Cameroon and Nigeria, a Council for Foreign Relations report revealed.Ahead of the World Cup, Ghana recorded the highest number of visitor visa applications, with 1,725 submitted by fans hoping to attend its group-stage match against Panama in Toronto on June 17. Fewer than 11 percent of those applications were approved.Colombia ranked second with 1,630 applications, despite not playing any group-stage matches in Canada. Nearly 70 percent of Colombian applicants received approval.Pakistan submitted the third-largest number of applications, with approximately 1,250 requests. Fewer than 9 percent were approved, with only 102 visas granted.The IRCC said it is working with FIFA and federal agencies to facilitate international travel while maintaining border security. Citizens of countries eligible for Canada’s electronic travel authorisation system—including Australia, Germany, Croatia and New Zealand—saw approval rates of about 96 percent. In contrast, applicants from countries that require temporary resident visas were approved at a rate of just 32 percent.Some countries, including Syria, Uganda and Sri Lanka, saw all reported World Cup-related visitor visa applications refused during the period covered by the data.Travellers to Canada require either a “temporary resident visa” (TRV) or an “electronic travel authorization” (eTA). Obtaining an eTA generally involves a short online application, while visitor visa applicants are typically required to submit additional documentation, including travel itineraries and proof of financial support.The government has cautioned that the data represents only a portion of expected international visitors. Many travellers entered Canada using previously issued visas or travel authorizations, while US citizens, who do not require visas or eTAs to enter Canada, were excluded from the analysis. To protect privacy, application totals below five were omitted and all figures were rounded to the nearest multiple of five.Earlier this year, Canadian immigration officials also sought to dispel misinformation circulating online about travel for the tournament.In January, the IRCC warned that there is no special ‘FIFA visa’ that grants visitors the right to work or settle in Canada. The statement came after social media posts and videos falsely claimed that obtaining a World Cup travel document could provide a pathway to employment or permanent residence.(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
