Athletes Like Ray Beltran Literally Fight to Stay in the US

A recent story in Yahoo Sports highlights the visa issues facing Mexican-born lightweight boxer Ray Beltran, who is currently in the United States on P-1 status.  He has had a distinguished career thus far, enjoying a record of  33-7-1 with 21 knockouts.  Beltran was the primary sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao and fought for the world title two times.  He has been ranked No. 2 by the WBC, WBO and IBF and No. 6 by the IBF.

Beltran now has a P1 visa which, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an athlete qualifies for a P1 if he or she is “coming to the United States to participate in individual event, competition or performance in which you are internationally recognized with a high level of achievement; evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered so that the achievement is renowned, leading or well known in more than one country.”

The article states that Beltran and his immigration attorney are very confident that his record is strong enough to warrant continued stay in P-1 status. 

However, all athletes retire, and those on P-1 status must look towards longer term options to remain in the US. The next logical step in the immigration journey of a P-1 athlete is typically the first preference EB-1 visa, which includes an allocation for those showing extraodinary ability in athletics.  The standards for acquiring an EB-1 immigrant visa are higher than for P-1 nonimmigrant visas.  The upshot is that a P-1 athlete facing only moderate success will face challenges in staying in the United States permanently.

The heightened standard for EB-1 immigrant visas requires P-1 athletes to maintain a high level of success.  As a result, athletes like Beltran feel continued pressure to keep winning.  Losing can be painful for any athlete, but that pain is compounded in cases where a string of defeats can threaten the loss of immigration status. 

British Boxer Amir Khan Faces P-1 Difficulties

An important lesson can be learned from British boxing phenom Amir Khan's attempt to secure P-1 visa status in time for his recent WBA junior welterweight title defense against Paulie Malignaggi.

Given what we know of the way these matters are handled under the Patriot Act, the wonder shouldn’t be that it took Amir Khan two weeks to get back into the country, but that he didn’t wind up in Guantanamo instead of at the Madison Square Garden Theatre this weekend.

Khan, a British subject also holding Pakistani citizenship, entered the United States on a visitors visa to begin training for the fight. However, in order to compete in the boxing match against Malignaggi, he needed to acquire P-1 status. The P-1 petition filed on his behalf was approved under consular processing, which meant that he would have to leave the country, acquire a P-1 visa stamp, and re-enter the US.

Khan's promoters thought that he would be able to secure a P-1 visa in a matter of only 2 days at the U.S. consulate in Vancouver, but they were bitterly disappointed. The visa application was delayed for unspecified security reasons, and was approved only after a couple of weeks. Fortunately for Khan, his entire training staff moved to Vancouver to enable him to train for the fight there, while his visa was being processed.

Even after receiving the visa, Khan faced an additional delay of a couple of hours at the port-of-entry while attempting to re-enter the United States.

A number of factors may have contributed to Khan's difficulties:

• Around this time, the U.S. security apparatus was abuzz due to Faisal Shahzad's attempted car bombing in Times Square;
• Khan has a common name that could have triggered red flags due to the misdeeds of other(s) with the same name;
• He has a checkered driving record in Britain, having hit a bicyclist and a pedestrian in separate incidents.
  

The main lesson to be learned is that visa processing delays are to be expected; one must schedule itineraries with the possibility of delays in mind.

Khan went on to win the fight, making a commendable US debut and keeping the WBA super lightweight title.

Summary on Visa Options for International Boxers

The 8CN Boxing website contains a useful summary of the various visa options available to international boxers seeking to travel to the United States for various purposes. As one might expect, the US has been a prime destination for top boxers.

"Foreign-born prospects Ji-Hoon Kim, Ruslan Provodnikov, and Maxim Vlasov all scored important wins on the February 12, 2010 ESPN Friday Night Fights card at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California; the Germany-based, Ukrainian-born WBO Junior Middleweight Champion Sergiy Dzinziruk signed a joint promotional agreement with Banner Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions; Britain’s Amir Khan signed a co-promotional agreement with Golden Boy Promotions with an eye towards his U.S. debut; the Russian-born Matvey Korobov continued his march towards middleweight contention with a first round knockout win at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 13, 2010 on the undercard of Filipino Nonito Donaire’s third round destruction of Mexican contender Manuel Vargas; and Roy Jones, Jr.’s Square Ring Promotions signed undefeated Ukrainian-born light heavyweight prospect Ismayl (The Black Russian) Sillakh, 11-0 (10 KOs), to name a few examples. A common thread connects each of these boxers, and a myriad of others: each of them requires a visa to train, live, and/or box in the United States."
8CN Boxing - Immigration Issues in Boxing

As always, the primary factor in determining which visa avenue to choose is: what does the athlete seek to do and accomplish in the United States? Other important factors are the athlete's country of citizenship, how long he/she would stay in the US, and what level of skill and accomplishment the athlete has achieved.

"New Visa Requirements Changing the Face of Boxing in Arizona" - Redux

The Arizona Star has picked up the article we blogged about last week, relating to P-1 visa requirements for boxers in Arizona. The Star has a broad readership, and as is apparent from the reader comments accompanying the article, that readership seems to be generally inclined against relaxed visa requirements. The following comment is just one example of what is a serious flaw in the country's current immigration debate - a lack of knowledge about immigration processing.

Yes this story is a complete lie and the ADS as usual does zero fact checking.
Immigrant visa applications currently cost $260 per individual application and $65 for issuance.

Too often rhetoric and vitriol prevail over fact and reasoning. As noted on the USCIS website, the filing fee for the I-129 (the form used to file a P-1 petition) is actually $320. Premium processing, which is a virtual necessity for speedy resolution of P-1 cases, is another $1000. Moreover, attorney's fees for the preparation of P-1 petitions typically run in the thousands of dollars simply because the amount of effort involved in procuring a P-1 visa greatly overshadows that which is required for a simple B-1/B-2 visitors visa.

Arizona Boxing Commission's P-1 Visa Requirement Undermines the Sport of Boxing in the State

As we reported earlier, the Arizona Boxing Commission explicitly requires acquisition of a P-1 visa before it will grant permission to an international boxer to fight within the state. According to a recent article in the Arizona-based La Estrella de Tucsón, this new requirement has been severely detrimental to the sport of boxing in the state.

The visa requirement happened at a bad time for the boxing world. Coupled with the country’s economic situation, it has lead to a decline in the frequency of fights.

“They hit us at the same time,” says Montaño, who estimates that the number of boxing matches in the state has dropped considerably – by about 70 percent.

Many of the professional boxers who compete in Arizona hail from Mexico. Since the P-1 visa requires an applying athlete to be "internationally recognized," it is often difficult for lesser-known boxers to receive approval. The standards for P-1 visas are not always easy to meet, especially when the applicant has not achieved a high degree of success, and the costs involved in acquiring such a visa are invariably much higher than a B-1/B-2 visitors visa. Even those boxers who successfully acquire a P-1 visa have been inconvenienced by the policy shift by the Arizona Boxing Commission. For instance, David "The Destroyer" López has voiced his concern that preparing for an opponent has become difficult because visa challenges often lead to last-minute changes on the fight card. Many Mexican boxers and their promoters are now seeking to hold their fights in venues outside of Arizona that would not explicitly condition the issuance of a boxing license on a P-1 visa.

Cuban Boxer Erislandy Lara Misses Boxing Event Due to P-1 Visa Delay

An article on CBSsports.com highlights the plight of Cuban boxer Erislandy Lara, a former world amateur champion who will miss a Golden Boy Promotions card featuring middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs (16-0, 14 KOs) against George Walton (20-3, 12 KOs) Friday night at Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson, Arizona. According to the article, Arizona is the only state that explicitly requires a P-1 visa before it will grant permission to an international boxer to fight within the state.