Jonathan Nicola is caught up some serious business. It goes much further past a 29-year old playing on a high school basketball team. When Nicola applied for a U.S. visitors visa that they realized that things weren’t adding up. Quote from TheSpec:
It was not until December when Nicola applied for a U.S. visitor’s visa to play basketball with the school that Canada Border Services Agency was alerted by their American counterparts that his fingerprints matched a former failed refugee claimant with the same name but a different age.
Now being held by immigration, Nicola is pleading his case. It may seem far-fetched, but he claims he didn’t know his age. Mainly because his mother couldn’t remember, but also because they didn’t go to school every year, so it’s hard to keep up.
Less far-fetched is the idea that the person filing his paperwork to play basketball in Canada fudged the numbers. He arrived in Canada last November on student visa to attend Catholic Central Secondary School on a full scholarship.
Except, there are no scholarships at the Catholic Central Secondary School.
More from TheSpec:
It is also unclear how Nicola could have successfully gone through so many levels of screening — by immigration officials at the visa post that issued the student visa, border authorities at Pearson airport and the school board that enrolled him as a student.
Nicola told officials he met a “Coach Steyn” in South Sudan who helped him with his application to Canada. He did not provide further details of how he met this coach, their relationship and where he is now.
“I told him, no, I was not born in 1998. I told him that I am too young for 1998. I’m not in 1998. Then he told me, ‘No, you go back ask my mother, ask my mother how old am I.’ And my mother she do not even remember. She told me 1993, 1990,” Nicola said at the earlier hearing.
Nicola also shared that he came to Canada in hopes of getting a good education so he can support his sick mother. After being caught, he pled with the judge to let him return home to be with his family. The judge understands and believes his claim, but has denied his request.