Canada has always welcomed athletes to come and compete in the nation. But sometimes, there are exceptions too. Have a look at some of the instances:

In a recent occurrence, athletes from countries like Sri Lanka, China and Nepal have been refused entry to play in Canada and participate in World University International Championships.

Coming to an incident of 2008, 13 Indian athletes were refused visas on their way to participating in a World Arm Wrestling Championships in Canada. The sole reason which was given for their rejection was that there are chances that they might settle down as illegal migrants there.

An incident of the same kind happened two years back when some members of Nigerian Wrestling team were not granted the permission to enter the nation. They were denied visas on the ground that they didn’t earn ample money, hence failing the financial requirements. Further, they failed to show any family ties in the nation too.

Canadian Daniel Igali, team’s technical advisor of that time got a letter from an anonymous Immigration official acquainting him of the denial of the visas of the Nigerian players. It said that the team has not satisfied the Immigration officials of its intentions to leave the premises after the expiration of the period allotted to them. Therefore the application is refused.

CONCLUSION: While on one hand, the applicants (in this case, athletes) believe that they have fulfilled all the mandatory requirements to get the visa and have shown genuine intentions to return back to their country of origin, certain incidents which have happened in the past allow the Immigration officials to rethink on the cases and sometimes reject the applications too.

Here are some of the examples:

• It was in the year 2000, when certain cricketers went to UK to participate in a tournament, but disappeared before the event.
• Asian Athletics Championships in Seoul witnessed disappearing of some athletes in the year 2005.

The incidents are many! Therefore, one should always show the right documents and genuine intentions before applying for a visa! Consult an expert Immigration expert for this.