Ellie Turner’s Visa Issues Puts Rogue Invitational Appearance in Jeopardy
Two-time CrossFit Games athlete Ellie Turner could miss her opportunity to compete at the 2022 Rogue Invitational at the end of October due to an ongoing issue with obtaining a United States visa. The 24-year old Australian is currently residing in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada through her visa she obtained through Canada prior to this year’s Games season.
Remind me: Turner originally obtained her visa through Canada because at the time she had traveled to Quebec prior to Wodapalooza in January to train with Michele Letendre, her coach at the time. In April, she traveled to Vancouver, Washington to train with Justin Medeiros, his coach Adam Neiffer and Chris Hinshaw. She soon after she left Deka Comp and remained in the United States to train at CrossFit Fort Vancouver with Medeiros.
- Due to her Canadian Visa, Turner can only stay in the United States for a maximum of six months before having to return to Canada. Including her time competing in Miami for Wodapalooza she reached that six month period soon after competing at this year’s Games.
- With the intention of training full-time and making the United States her home she has applied for a US Visa. However the process has made the prospect of her competing at the Rogue Invitational an unknown.
- Currently she cannot re-enter the United States until her visa application goes through processing and eventually approval.
- Part of the process includes an interview with the U.S. Customs office as part of the application.
- She stated on the Sevan Podcast on September 25 that the interview is scheduled in the upcoming weeks.
- “I can be anywhere in the world apart from America,” said Turner on the Sevan Podcast.
- After the interview the approval process begins, which Turner says could take an additional week putting the timeline near the start of the Rogue Invitational.
- Turner also stated she has retained legal counsel that specialize in helping people with visa issues.
The bottom line: Turner’s appearance at the premiere offseason event could come down to the 11th hour, but she says she has every intention of competing in Texas on October 28-30. The Rogue Invitational women’s field is already lacking some of the top names, such as Tia-Clair Toomey, Mal O’Brien, Haley Adams and Brooke Wells. Having one of the top up-and-coming stars in Turner not competing would be another blow to the event.
Turner is coming off a 18th place finish at the Games which capped a banner year where she finished seventh in the Open, third in the Oceania Quarterfinals and repeated her third place finish at the Torian Pro Semifinal to qualify for the Games for the second-straight year.
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