Sherrod Sports Helps Poker Players Obtain U.S. Visas

Poker players heading to the U.S. from other countries to play major live tournament series or online increasingly face more governmental controls. The law firm Sherrod Sports Visas is now helping players navigate this process to gain the appropriate visa.

This may be a major consideration for players heading to the World Series of Poker this summer or even the PokerStars North American Poker Tour series and World Poker Tour World Championship later in the year.

“Increasingly, there is becoming more of a crackdown on unauthorized work authorization and revocation of ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) visas for professional gambling athletes, especially those in sports such as poker, where events can be broadcast,” the firm notes. “Our goal is to be a resource to poker players, tournaments, sponsors, and broadcast partners to make sure the industry has security through knowledge of what visas are appropriate for their situation.”

Planning Ahead

The law firm specializes in helping players obtain critical P-1 or O-1 visas. The P-1 visa typically applies to athletes, coaches, and other international performers that may be competing in another country only temporarily.

The O-1 is also a consideration and is for an “individual who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Sherrod Sports Visas works on behalf of players to make this process easier and to provide relevant information to players. Competitors who receive only prize money may play under a visitor visa, but there are some key reasons for some players to obtain a work visa. Some of those include:

• Players may receive additional revenue via broadcast bonuses, sponsorship payments, or other compensation not directly related to winning a tournament or event.
• Those caught violating the visitor visa work limitations may face a multiyear ban from travel to the U.S. based on unauthorized work.
• There are also limitations on how often Customs and Border Protection will allow back-to-back travel on the visitor visa or ESTA visa waiver.

Sherrod helps determine whether the P-1, O-1, or EB-1A visa is more appropriate based on the individual player.

“The question of which is the most appropriate depends on the documented skills and acclaim of the poker player and also the poker player’s plans throughout the visa,” the firm notes. “On the initial filing, we typically seek three years on the P-1 visa, which can be attempted for five years but this is not recommended on the first visa attempt, so we anticipate the activities that will occur over the next three years.”

What’s Required?

Sherrod Sports Visas gathers key information from players to obtain a visa to work and play in the U.S.. Players will need to provide some information to determine which visa best applies to their own situation.

That may include providing proof of deep finishes at the WSOP, international rankings from the Global Poker Index, success in prestigious online tournaments, prize money statistics, and even letters from other poker players. The firm has deep experience in securing visas and helps smooth out the process.

“We have been fortunate enough to do enough P-1 petitions to understand exactly how to present information on the sport’s biggest competitions to support P-1A approvals,” the firm reports. “The P-1 visa allows the player to receive revenue other than prize money such as salary and sponsorship activation.”

An O-1 visa comes with more requirements and is more appropriate for players engaging in much more than competing in tournaments. This could include coaching, producing content, hosting seminars, opening other businesses, and other non-competition activities not allowed under a P-1A visa.

“Obtaining an O-1A is more difficult on eligibility than the P-1 because the eligibility requirements are more substantial and subjective,” according to Sherrod. “However, it is still very much possible for the top achieving and most popular poker players in the world to obtain the O-1A. The O-1A does not have to prove the athlete will be competing in competitions that require the participation of internationally recognized athletes, which makes the itinerary portion of the petition much easier. The great thing about poker is; we’ve never had an itinerary problem in any of our petitions”

For more information on Sherrod Sports Visas, you can email [email protected]. Players can also start the intake evaluation process by visiting SherrodSportsVisas.com/Candidate.

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