P-1A Visa Adjudications Remain Inconsistent for Professional Video Gamers

As we noted in January 2014, the USCIS has begun to recognize professional video game players as athletes eligible for P-1A visas, which are reserved for "internationally recognized athletes."  Even so, there has been a lack of consistency in the adjudication of such visas for professional gamers, probably because of the relative novelty of professional gaming and the usage of the P-1 category for such athletes.

The difficulties faced by professional gamers in acquiring P-1 visas was brought into relief last October when Sweden's William "Leffen" Hjelte was denied the visa despite his renown as a top-level gamer.  While Hjelte ultimately procured a P-1 visa in this year, the gaming industry has been vocal in demanding more consistent adjudications of P-1 visas, even starting a petition on Whitehouse.gov that has amassed over 117,677 signatures. The petition states that a wider range of "eSports should be considered 'legitimate' sports in order to let players come and compete in the United States."

While one might expect the availability of P-1 visas for gamers to increase over time as government officials become more acclimatized to this unique form of professional sports, such an increase is far from obvious given recent political developments.  Many immigration lawyers fear that the recent election of Donald Trump as President will harken an increasing anti-immigrant sentiment among adjudicators in the country's immigration agencies, including within the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.  If that proves to be the case, one can expect a higher level of scrutiny being applied to already stringent requirements for P-1 athletes.