Overview
- A Federal Court judge in Ottawa dismissed an emergency appeal on Tuesday, upholding Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s refusal and meaning Partey will miss Ghana’s opener in Toronto.
- Canadian officials based the visa denial on ongoing UK charges against Partey and said applicants can be deemed inadmissible on reasonable grounds even without a foreign conviction.
- The judge noted Partey did not disclose the multiple criminal charges in his visa application when rejecting the request for extraordinary relief.
- Partey has a US visa and is training with Ghana at its Rhode Island base, so he remains eligible for Ghana’s group matches played in the United States.
- The case has prompted diplomatic protests from Ghana and highlights a wider tension between host-country immigration sovereignty and the presumption of innocence for accused athletes, with Partey’s UK trial still pending.