Giannis Antetokounmpo’s, Milwaukee Bucks Star Player, Immigration Story : Immigration Law Blog

On July 20, the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns, successful the 2021 NBA Championship. Giannis Antetokounmpo grew to become the sixth participant within the NBA Last Historical past to attain 50 factors in a single sport, main the Milwaukee Bucks to the win. He received the NBA Finals “Most Useful Participant” award; presently, his two brothers additionally play within the NBA.

Giannis’ Immigration Journey

Giannis was born in December 1994 in Athens, Greece, to Nigerian immigrant mother and father. His mother and father had moved to Greece searching for higher work alternatives. Like most different immigrant households there, his mother and father confronted threats of deportation to Nigeria and needed to survive in opposition to anti-immigrant attitudes in Greece.

Not having any authorized standing, Giannis’ mother and father needed to wrestle to take care of regular employment. They bought client items, like watches and hats, to make ends meet. When he turned 13, there was a dramatic shift within the household’s fortune. Spiros Velliniatis, a coach within the Greek beginner basketball leagues, found Giannis and his brothers. Spiros was decided to coach them.

Coach Spiros provided Giannis’ mother and father higher employment alternatives in change for the chance to coach him and his brothers full-time. Giannis and his brothers improved exponentially by beginning their coaching at a younger age and mixing persistent exhausting work with pure items. Very quickly, Giannis grew to become essentially the most sought-after basketball expertise in Greece. All the foremost leagues on this planet flocked to the nation to see the star in motion.

Giannis’s Statelessness

Giannis’ reputation virtually hit a roadblock because of his immigration standing. Not like the US and plenty of different international locations, Greece doesn’t supply birthright citizenship. Greece requires not less than one mum or dad to be a Greek citizen for the kid to realize Greek citizenship. Sadly, Giannis – who didn’t have papers from Greece or Nigeria – was thought-about stateless. Being born in Greece and dwelling there all his life didn’t change something.

Giannis’ statelessness would have prevented him from touring to New York for the NBA draft. Trying to safe a Nigerian passport would have taken time. Luckily, the Greek authorities provided him citizenship simply earlier than the NBA draft, so he stepped onto the world stage as a Greek citizen.

Birthright Citizenship

Birthright citizenship was established within the U.S. Structure by the Fourteenth Modification. Giannis’ turbulent journey in the direction of buying Greek citizenship highlights the positives of this facet of the U.S. immigration legal guidelines. The first precept behind that is to make sure that kids born to immigrant mother and father shouldn’t have to be burdened by their mother and father’ choices.

Giannis and The Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks franchise was price $300 million earlier than Giannis joined the group. Right now, your entire group is figure $1.6 billion. The surge of latest stars, primarily from various backgrounds, has augmented the group’s worth. Giannis is essentially the most distinguished worldwide participant, however the group is full of worldwide expertise. The NBA 2020-2021 season was the seventh consecutive season to have 100+ worldwide gamers. It additionally had a world participant on all its roster. The gamers included 17 Canadians and record-tying 14 Africans.

To study extra about this weblog submit or you probably have another immigration issues, please be happy to contact me at rglahoud@norris-law.com or (484) 544-0022.