Russian hockey athletes explore applying for asylum or residence permit in the United States and Canada

Predictions of the consequences of economic sanctions against Russian sport seem to be confirmed more clearly with each passing day.

Russian players, their representatives and National Hockey League (NHL) teams have contacted immigration attorneys in recent days to discuss the process of applying for asylum or permanent residence in North America, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The athletes’ concern is the U.S. and Canadian governments could delay or stop issuing new work permits and travel visas to Russian athletes, according to Joe Kirkwood, a San Diego-based immigration attorney who has worked on player visa matters for over 25 NHL and American Hockey League teams.

According to an article in the Canadian outlet The Sports Network (TSN), Kirkwood does not expect the U.S. government to revoke the visas of Russian players already in America “but there is a very real and valid concern about what could happen with new visas in the future.”

TSN said two sources close to the players revealed the athletes have been in talks with immigration attorneys. The sources requested anonymity to avoid embarrassing those players if they were identified.

Thomas Arkell, an immigration attorney in Bloomington, Ill., who has represented professional ice hockey players and teams, said he has also been contacted by players and player agents concerned about the war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa asked the Canadian government to stop issuing new work permits and travel visas to Russian athletes on March 2, according to TSN.

Kirkwood noted most NHL players in the U.S. on multi-year contracts would qualify to become permanent residents and would not need to apply for asylum if they had the support of their teams.

Maria Popova, a professor in the department of political science at McGill University, has provided expert advice on more than 20 Russian immigration cases in Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom and says, according to TSN, making it clear what the Russian government is doing in Ukraine for Russian athletes would be favorable in their case.

“Athletes in Russia are important public figures. People in the West don’t realize how important sport is to Russia’s self-perception as a great power. Sport is much more important in the geopolitical context of Russia than it is here,” she said.

The issue seems sensitive in the Russian context given the possibility that this sporting “emigration” spreads to other sports.

Four-time Olympic biathlon champion Alexander Tikhonov criticized the possibility of changing citizenship for Russian biathletes.

“If our biathletes start changing their citizenship in such a situation, it will be a real betrayal. I think they are quite serious people and they will not take that step. Now it is necessary, on the contrary, to show that we are strong and respond to our country no matter what happens,” Tikhonov said, according to the Russian outlet Sport 24.

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in competitions under its auspices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Biathlon Union announced that it would defend the rights of its athletes in court.

This Friday, according to RIA Novosti, the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport registered the appeal of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) against the decision of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) to prevent Russian athletes from participating in the European Youth Olympics Festival.

On March 2, the EOC Executive Committee, referring to the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee, decided Russian athletes will not be able to compete in the Festival taking place later this month in the Finnish city of Vuokatti.

The IOC recommended sports federations not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete after the violation of the Olympic Truce decreed by the United Nations when Russia carried out the invasion of Ukraine with the support of Belarus.