Despite bureaucratic efforts and diplomacy, it is now official that Ghana’s Thomas Partey will not play on Thursday against Panama in the Group L opener for the Black Stars in Toronto after his visa appeal was rejected.
The court on Tuesday found that the officer who denied Partey a visa had not erred in law by basing the decision to refuse entry on an unproven offence.
“Paragraph 36(1)(c) of the IRPA (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act), as distinct from 36(1)(b), does not require a conviction in order to find the applicant inadmissible. Rather, simply having reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has been committed is sufficient,” wrote Judge Roger R. Lafrenière.
The appeal against the decision to grant Partey a Canadian visa for the World Cup failed, with court documents revealing that the initial visa application did not disclose the criminal charges he faces in the UK.
“A letter addressed to Partey from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), sent on May 25, set out concerns about whether his application had met the requirement to ‘answer truthfully’. It also stated he may be inadmissible for a temporary resident visa under a section of legislation covering misrepresentation,” Sky Sports News Chief Correspondent Kaveh Solhekol reported.
“The federal court, in its ruling on Tuesday dismissing the motion, noted that the response to that letter and Partey’s affidavit to the court ‘fail to acknowledge, let alone explain why this material information was missing in his application’,” Solhekol added.
An application for a temporary resident visa (TRV) was made on May 21, but in response to a question about whether Partey had ever committed, been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of any criminal offence in any country, the answer provided was “No”.
The 33-year-old former Arsenal midfielder denies seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to allegations by four women between 2020 and 2022. He is due to stand trial next year.