ISU changes residency requirements for skaters!

[barbk]

I texted an ISU Technical Specialist for ice dance and was told that those who have already obtained their ISU Clearance or submitted a request for ISU Clearance will not be affected by this new rule.

Also, if one of the skaters in pairs/dance has citizenship then it is fine as per

8.2.2 In Pair Skating and Ice Dance one partner must be a citizen of the country of the represented ISU Member

He said that it affects singles skaters switching countries more

As usual, whoever writes ISU regulations needs remedial clarity lessons.

 

[Karen-W]

I texted an ISU Technical Specialist for ice dance and was told that those who have already obtained their ISU Clearance or submitted a request for ISU Clearance will not be affected by this new rule.

Also, if one of the skaters in pairs/dance has citizenship then it is fine as per

8.2.2 In Pair Skating and Ice Dance one partner must be a citizen of the country of the represented ISU Member

He said that it affects singles skaters switching countries more

I wouldn't take the ISU Tech Specialist's word that those who have their ISU Clearance are not affected.

The wording is pretty clear - residency must be reconfirmed annually.

8.2.1 A Skater may compete only as a member of the ISU Member of a country of which they are a citizen or in which they have resided for at least one year. Citizenship shall be evidenced by an official certificate of citizenship issued by the competent national authority. Residence for one year means and shall be evidenced by documentation demonstrating to the ISU’s satisfaction (acting reasonably) that the individual has maintained continuous stay in the country of residence for a minimum of 180 days within the past calendar year. Proof of residence shall be reconfirmed annually through the submission of appropriate documentation by the ISU Member.

ETA - I just noticed, that ISU Officials wishing to transfer are also subject to a Clearance Certificate (though the verbiage under the Residency section does NOT apply to ISU Officials).

 

[skategal]

Well this means that the rumoured partnership of Lim/Lagha won’t be representing South Korea and will try for Canada if they are going to compete.

 

[overedge]

Who's going to monitor the "residency" and count the 180 days? Personally I'd be tempted to rent the cheapest apartment I could find in the country I represented and use that as my address, and go and train wherever worked for me (assuming I could afford to do that).

Or is the ISU going to send hall monitors around to knock on people's doors at 11 pm on Sunday night and see if they're actually at home? Shades of Richard Callaghan creeping around his skaters' apartment buildings and hanging out in their parking lots to yell at them if he thought they were wasting time partying.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

The residency only applies to non-citizens, so this will apply in a limited number of cases in some senses. For teams who planned to get citizenship for the Olympics, in many counties, they would already have been meeting residency requirements. Others skate for countries that easily give out citizenship, so they could solve the residency problem by giving them citizenship.

Isn’t South Korean citizenship pretty difficult if you have no family from the country?

 

[Andrea82]

The document does state that the ISU Exec Council may issue exemptions under certain conditions - it doesn't list the conditions that they would consider for an exemption, but I'd hope that a country under attack would be a suitable cause for exemption.

Also, there are a major changes in the appointment of ISU Officials (Judges, Tech panel, Referees), gradually implemented during the next several seasons.


And further down...



Of course, they aren't applying a RESIDENCY requirement to the ISU Officials the way they are to the Skaters. What a joke.

So, next season will be the last in which international judges can officiate in Senior GPs. Starting from 2027/28 they will need to be ISU status. However, international level will be enough to officiate at Junior GPs for technical specialists and controllers. Until last season, they needed to be ISU level.

And ISU members will lose the right to name the individual judges for Senior Worlds already next season. And in 2027/28 for Junior Worlds too. By 2028/29 also for Euros and 4CCs.
It will be ISU to do that. It will be interesting to see if they will still do the draw by country or not. There will be Officials’ Selection Commission whose details will be contained in a senate upcoming Communication.

 

[marshallpond]

I wouldn't take the ISU Tech Specialist's word that those who have their ISU Clearance are not affected.

The wording is pretty clear - residency must be reconfirmed annually.

I know of someone who submitted an ISU Clearance last week. If they get it without fulfilling the residency requirement (they just teamed up a couple of months ago), then what I was told is correct -- that as long as one of the team has citizenship, it is okay (if the team does not have citizenship, then they need to have residency)

I was also told the rules are not as different as they were before, and one casualty of that was a Dutch team that was neither Dutch nor did they meet the residency rules because they trained in Italy, so they lost their ISU Clearance.

Will post again when that skater gets the clearance to transfer to a new fed, even though the skater does not meet residency requirements yet

 

[skategal]

The residency only applies to non-citizens, so this will apply in a limited number of cases in some senses. For teams who planned to get citizenship for the Olympics, in many counties, they would already have been meeting residency requirements. Others skate for countries that easily give out citizenship, so they could solve the residency problem by giving them citizenship.

Isn’t South Korean citizenship pretty difficult if you have no family from the country?

IIRC they have a fast-track for athletes.

Ye Quan didn’t have any problems getting it.

 

[MacMadame]

If so, then it effectively grandfathers existing teams who have already gotten their ISU Clearance Certificate

That's my interpretation.

I wouldn't take the ISU Tech Specialist's word that those who have their ISU Clearance are not affected.

But that's what it says. It says these rules are to get the ISU Clearance Certificate. Once you have it, you don't have to get it again so how can it impact current teams?

 

[Karen-W]

I know of someone who submitted an ISU Clearance last week. If they get it without fulfilling the residency requirement (they just teamed up a couple of months ago), then what I was told is correct -- that as long as one of the team has citizenship, it is okay (if the team does not have citizenship, then they need to have residency)

I was also told the rules are not as different as they were before, and one casualty of that was a Dutch team that was neither Dutch nor did they meet the residency rules because they trained in Italy, so they lost their ISU Clearance.

Will post again when that skater gets the clearance to transfer to a new fed, even though the skater does not meet residency requirements yet

That's my interpretation.


But that's what it says. It says these rules are to get the ISU Clearance Certificate. Once you have it, you don't have to get it again so how can it impact current teams?

Well, I'm reading Section 8.2 - Basic Requirements and the residency is clearly outlined in 8.2.1; meanwhile the Clearance Certificate is Section 8.3. I'm not sure how the ISU plans to square the requirement to submit, annually, proof of residency for non-citizen skaters unless they make the Clearance Certificate renewable annually pending the submission of proof of residency.

Who knows?

 

[Karen-W]

Also, interesting that this residency requirement is being imposed the season after Fournier-Beaudry won an OGM for France despite never having lived in France.

 

[Debbie S]

Also, interesting that this residency requirement is being imposed the season after Fournier-Beaudry won an OGM for France despite never having lived in France.

As usual, the ISU is late.

 

[Miezekatze]

Also, interesting that this residency requirement is being imposed the season after Fournier-Beaudry won an OGM for France despite never having lived in France.

But isn't Cizeron a French citizen? In which case she wouldn't be affected anyway.

 

[Jeanine]

Sou/Fir retired just in time to avoid it. They would have been out. (I think they had planned to retire anyway, so it probably wasn't related to this.)

That was my first thought too!

 

[Karen-W]

But isn't Cizeron a French citizen? In which case she wouldn't be affected anyway.

The residency requirement if for the non-citizen, which when they teamed up she was not and it's hard to imagine she would have moved to France for 6 months seeing as they train in Montreal. The residency requirement would have effectively killed the partnership before it even got off the ground.

 

[Debbie S]

But isn't Cizeron a French citizen? In which case she wouldn't be affected anyway.

You mean Fournier-Beaudry? Yes, she got her citizenship in the fall (presumably much faster than any non-Olympian applying for French citizenship). The rule would have either forced France to give her citizenship before the first comp of the season, or they wouldn't have been able to compete on the GP.

As noted above, this rule is going to create an even bigger imbalance between countries that hand out passports to athletes like candy and those that don't make exceptions/with tighter processes.

 

[Former Lurve Goddess]

Maybe FSU's legal eagles can chime in, but wouldn't this new rule be a potential human rights/freedom of movement violation? If I were an Ukrainian skater whose rink had been bombed and whose safety was at risk and my only avenue to continue competing in ice dance involved training in another country with a partner from another country, I'd consider making a case against the ISU at the court of arbitration for sport.

 

[Karen-W]

Maybe FSU's legal eagles can chime in, but wouldn't this new rule be a potential human rights/freedom of movement violation? If I were an Ukrainian skater whose rink had been bombed and whose safety was at risk and my only avenue to continue competing in ice dance involved training in another country with a partner from another country, I'd consider making a case against the ISU at the court of arbitration for sport.

The ISU has given themselves the ability to grant exceptions - and specifically mentions refugees, which would certainly apply to any Ukrainian skaters, I imagine.

 

[TAHbKA]

Who's going to monitor the "residency" and count the 180 days? Personally I'd be tempted to rent the cheapest apartment I could find in the country I represented and use that as my address, and go and train wherever worked for me (assuming I could afford to do that).

If it's within EU it may work, but if you are flying you may have stamps in your passport.

Or is the ISU going to send hall monitors around to knock on people's doors at 11 pm on Sunday night and see if they're actually at home? Shades of Richard Callaghan creeping around his skaters' apartment buildings and hanging out in their parking lots to yell at them if he thought they were wasting time partying.

Doping control officers could...

 

[Private Citizen]

If it's within EU it may work, but if you are flying you may have stamps in your passport.

Doping control officers could...

Passport control is avoidable since Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, and some other countries do not do exit checks at all. And other countries have stopped stamping on exit or entirely.

At what level do skaters need to submit their daily whereabouts for doping control?

Requiring evidence of a tax return / tax residency / residency permit might be an option. Although technically there are a couple of countries, including Canada, the US, and the UK, that allow for 180 day stays without a visa or becoming tax resident. (183 days yes, 180 days no.)

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Sou/Fir retired just in time to avoid it. They would have been out. (I think they had planned to retire anyway, so it probably wasn't related to this.)

Didn’t they receive Irish citizenship? I thought they were trying for the Olympics?

The residency requirement if for the non-citizen, which when they teamed up she was not and it's hard to imagine she would have moved to France for 6 months seeing as they train in Montreal. The residency requirement would have effectively killed the partnership before it even got off the ground.

Only if the rule applies to the non-citizen partner if one of them is a citizen. It definitely looks like it could be read either way.

 

[jmtfti]

Didn’t they receive Irish citizenship? I thought they were trying for the Olympics?

Shane got it through a grandparent, but I don't think Carolane ever managed to. She definitely hadn't as of last spring, so I assume they competed at Chinese Nebelhorn hoping that a qualified spot would convince the government to grant an exception. Article from March 2025: https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/othersport/arid-41601625.html (This also sheds some light on how little some skaters actually consider the long-term logistics involved in country-switching.)

 

[Alilou]

Didn’t they receive Irish citizenship? I thought they were trying for the Olympics?

She needed Irish citizenship, but I guess they didn't think it through. In order for her to get Irish citizenship she had to live in Ireland, and they needed to train in Canada since there's no elite dance coaching in Ireland.

 

[Wyliefan]

They had considered living in Ireland and getting their coaching via Zoom, but they couldn't find adequate facilities to make it work.

 

[miffy]

Yeah, no ice rink in the country would make that very hard I guess they could have got the train into Northern Ireland (different country) every day and used the Belfast rink.

I hope Ireland get a rink one day.

 

[MacMadame]

She needed Irish citizenship, but I guess they didn't think it through. In order for her to get Irish citizenship she had to live in Ireland, and they needed to train in Canada since there's no elite dance coaching in Ireland.

Honestly, that article makes them sound pretty idiotic. They switched countries without learning the requirements? If they were teens, I could excuse that as them being failed by their team, but they are in their 30s.

 

[PRlady]

That seems to happen at least once a season. I remember Tobias/Tkachenko discovering very late in the game that he couldn’t get Israeli citizenship: no Olympics and immediate breakup.

 

[Wyliefan]

The Olympics weren't the only reason Caro and Shane switched. They wanted more opportunities to compete internationally. The Olympics were a goal, but they knew they might not be able to make it happen. They were still grateful to be able to do Europeans, Worlds, etc.

 

[Alilou]

Honestly, that article makes them sound pretty idiotic. They switched countries without learning the requirements? If they were teens, I could excuse that as them being failed by their team, but they are in their 30s.

Totally agree. I was pretty stunned when I read about it.

 

[TAHbKA]

At what level do skaters need to submit their daily whereabouts for doping control?

Аccording to the they have to give a quarter ahead statement where they will be and update it if they are not (for example decided to take a vacation they have to update the system, of course they are not expected to plan their lives 3 months in advance with no option to make changes). In an addition they have to write an hour in a day when they promise to be on that address. If 3 times the doping people came and the athlete was not there - it's bad. Of course all that applies only to the athletes who are in the 'pull' and am not sure a new team would be, however, if the new rule applies for more than a year they may end up in a pull and then well, good luck

Note that the WADA database is not the same one as the ISU's and while the ISU does have an access there the ISU will not necessarily go through the records and check the address in the WADA system is the same as the country the skater claims to represent. But it's a risk the ISU person may actually check.