Brazil will begin imposing restrictions on the entry of some foreigners from Asia who use the country as a launching point to migrate to the US and Canada, the justice ministry’s press office said Wednesday.

More than 70 per cent of requests for refuge at the airport come from people with either Indian, Nepalese or Vietnamese nationalities, an official document says. The African nations of Somalia, Cameroon, Ghana and Ethiopia are among the remaining 30 per cent of refuge seekers.