For a time, Nikolay Kulemin’s goal of attaining Canadian citizenship seemed as far out of reach as the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup.

The 32-year old Russian, a forward with the Toronto hockey team between 2008 and 2014, and his wife Natalia, applied for Canadian citizenship in December 2014. It seemed like just a simple procedural step for the family, who had put down roots in the city where their two children were born.

But then a citizenship judge rejected their application, noting that they failed to meet the required number of days of residency and instead travelled the world just going “wherever hockey took them.”

The judge argued that the couple’s “centralized mode of living” was really Russia, where the family returned and stayed while Kulemin played in a local league during the three-and-a-half month NHL lockout in 2012. He also noted that Kulemin was no longer living in Canada, having been traded to the New York Islanders.

But that reasoning was called out by the Federal Court of Canada, which has quashed the unnamed citizenship judge’s ruling, opening the door, after almost four years, for the now retired NHLer to have his Canadian citizenship application reassessed.

“The findings regarding the lockout are inconsistent with the citizenship judge’s acceptance that hockey was Mr. Kulemin’s employment, that hockey careers are short and that the frequent travel due to hockey was the reason for the majority of (his) absences from Canada,” wrote Federal Court Justice Catherine Kane last month.

Kulemin was playing for the Metallurg Magnitogorsk club in Russia when he was drafted by the Leafs in 2006. He arrived in Canada on a work permit in 2008 and became a permanent resident in 2012.

“It was not ‘happenstance’ that brought him to Canada, as found by the citizenship judge,” Kane noted in her decision. “It was his determination and intention.”

Kulemin played for the Leafs until 2014 and applied for Canadian citizenship shortly after he was traded to the New York Islanders.

“I wanted to stay in Canada, but this was not possible,” Kulemin told the Star in a statement through his immigration lawyer Lev Abramovich. “Even though we temporarily relocated to accommodate my career, we continue to maintain strong ties to Canada. We never applied for permanent residency in United States. The only property we own is in Toronto.”

The couple’s citizenship applications were processed under the old citizenship rules where they were required to be physically present in Canada for 1,095 out of the 1,460 days prior to the submission of their citizenship applications. Kulemin and his wife were short 472 days and 319 days respectively.

However, the law then also allowed citizenship judges the discretion to apply “the analytical approach” to determine if the applicants had established strong ties to Canada. The law has since changed to apply a strict quantitative count of the days an applicant physically spends in Canada.

The citizenship judge suggested that Kulemin’s ties to Canada were not strong enough, citing his absence from Canada during the NHL lockout.

“The citizenship judge appears to have overlooked that Mr. Kulemin was under contract with the Maple Leafs even during the lockout. While he was permitted by the Maple Leafs to play in his former league during the lockout, it was clearly for a temporary period,” Kane said in her court ruling.

In federal court, Kulemin said it was his dream to play for the Leafs, and his agent said in an affidavit that the hockey player’s instructions were to seek extensions of his contract to let his family stay in Toronto.

However, when that failed and he was traded to the Islanders, his family only rented a home in New York and did not apply for any permanent status in the United States, proof, Kulemin told the federal court, of their intent to return to Canada when his career was over.

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“The citizenship judge’s finding that it was simply due to Mr. Kulemin’s hockey career that he and his family were in Canada and the suggestion that they would go wherever hockey took them does not reflect Mr. Kulemin’s evidence,” wrote Kane. “It was his intention to come to Canada and to remain in Canada.”

Kulemin, who returned to play with his hometown club in Russia this year, said he has plans to settle in Toronto after his retirement from his professional career.

“Our children were born in Canada, and this is where we would like to raise them,” he said. “I enjoy being a part of this community. I love working with kids, seeing them develop and enjoy the game more. I am hoping that the next citizenship judge issues a positive decision, and look forward to returning to Canada.”

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