Saudi Arabia has deported more Indian citizens than America in the last five years. This information has been given by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) through official data presented in the Rajya Sabha. These figures also show that the major reason for deportation in Gulf countries is not illegal border crossing, but visa overstay, violation of labor laws and ignoring residency rules.

In a written reply to a question asked in the Rajya Sabha on December 18, 2025, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said that many countries do not share data related to detention, but the deportation data released through Emergency Certificate (EC) gives a reliable indication of the action taken against Indian citizens.

The country that deports Indians the most

According to the data received from the Indian Embassy, ​​Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has deported thousands of Indians every year from 2021 to 2025, which is as follows.

• 2021: 8,887
• 2022: 10,277
• 2023: 11,486
• 2024: 9,206
• 2025 (so far): 7,019

According to officials, these figures are the result of the strictness of Iqama (residency permit) rules in Saudi Arabia, the Saudisation policy, tight controls in the labor market and periodic campaigns against visa overstays.

“In the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia, large-scale deportations take place due to overstaying visas, working without permits and violation of residency rules,” a senior official said.

Deportation figures from America are very low

In contrast, the figures of deportation of Indian citizens from America have been quite low, even though the political debate on immigration has been intense there. According to the Indian Mission in Washington DC, 805 Indians have been deported in 2021, 862 in 2022, 617 in 2023, 1,368 in 2024 and 3,414 in 2025. In other American missions (New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago) this number was only in the tens or hundreds, which is very less in comparison to the Gulf countries.

Main reasons for deportation

According to the MEA, the main reasons behind deportation include overstaying a visa, working without a valid work permit, violating local labor laws and mass checking drives conducted from time to time. Officials also clarified that in most of the cases there is no mass detention and many Indians have valid travel documents, hence there is no need for Emergency Certificate.

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A large number of Indians are being forced to evacuate from Canada. In such a situation, India’s new High Commissioner to Canada has raised questions regarding this issue. Dinesh K. According to Patnaik, Indian citizens are not able to feel safe in Canada.

The Indian High Commissioner says that it is very strange that I myself feel the need for security here. Along with this, Dinesh K. Patnaik raised questions and said that some Canadians are creating such problems. Along with this he said that this is not the problem of Indians but the problem of Canada.

Dinesh K. Patnaik raised questions

Without naming any Khalistani terrorism group, Dinesh K. Patnaik said that the group of some people is actually intimidating, due to which India-Canada relations are also being affected. Along with this, he raised the question that how can this be dealt with?

For the last few years, there have been reports of a large number of Indians being expelled from Canada. According to reports, 1997 Indians were deported from Canada in the year 2024. Whereas in 2019 this number was 625.

Record numbers continuously increasing

Figures from the Canadian Border Services Agency say that 1,891 Indians have been asked to leave the country by July 2025. This suggests that this year the total number may exceed last year’s figure. Canada is following America regarding its anti-immigration push.

Recently, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had said that there is a plan to speed up the deportation of foreign criminals from the country. For your information, let us tell you that in August itself, India and Canada appointed Senior High Commissioners Dinesh Patnaik and Christopher as High Commissioners to each other’s country.

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