'I'm definitely mad': Mexican family loses out on trip to Vancouver after Canadian visa change

A Mexican man says his family has lost out on a planned trip to Vancouver after the Canadian government's sudden change in visa requirements went into effect last week.

Christian Hernandez, his wife and two kids had a trip booked to Vancouver to visit family at the end of the month, but his wife's U.S. visa had expired and would take weeks to renew. Hernandez says the Canadian government's short notice before their trip was frustrating.

"It was just so sudden that it just stopped us in our tracks and now we don’t have a vacation planned," Hernandez told CTV News Vancouver, explaining he saw many social media posts from other travellers saying they had to cancel plans.

The rule change, which was announced on Feb. 29 and came into effect later that same day, requires all Mexican nationals who don't have a U.S. non-immigrant visa or who have not have a Canadian visa in the last 10 years to apply for one. Those coming for school or work are exempt under the new rules. 

Hernandez said his family spent about $8,000 on flights, which he got a voucher for, but it expires in a year. They also lost money spent on upgrades, like being able to pick seats together. He said his family also spent about $1,600 on Airbnb reservations and they only got about $400 back. In addition, he spent money booking a hotel room for a couple of nights.

"I'm definitely mad at Canada at this point. But, Vancouver is a beautiful town and I would never stop seeing my sisters," he said.

"I'm mad I spent a bunch of money I wasn't planning on. Some of it can be recovered, some of it can't and some of it's stuck. So yeah, I’m definitely mad. I jokingly said, 'you know lets go somewhere else, spend our money somewhere not in Canada.' But I’ll spend it eventually in Canada again, I do love going to Canada."

Destination BC said in an emailed statement to CTV News Vancouver that Mexico is "an important market for B.C. not just for the amount of travellers that arrive here, but for the length of time that they stay, and the amount they spend in destination."

"B.C. has long held the reputation of an open destination who is eager to welcome visitors," the statement said. "Any barriers to travel certainly have the potential to impact this reputation, and unfortunately, we are hearing from some travel trade partners already of booking cancellations."

As of Friday, processing times for a visitor visa for someone coming to Canada from Mexico is expected to be 41 days, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

In 2016, the visa requirement was lifted to make it easier for people from Mexico to make asylum claims in Canada.

Since then, Canada has seen a significant rise in asylum claims from the region. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said last Thursday that Mexican nationals accounted for 17 per cent of all asylum claimants in 2023, and most of their claims are either rejected by IRCC, or withdrawn by the applicants.

According to the Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada received more than 25,000 refugee claims from Mexican nationals last year, the most of any country.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Becca Clarkson and Ben Nesbit