US Immigration Recognizes League of Legends as Professional Sport

It would seem, where does the US immigration service and a computer game? It turns out that the other day the representatives of this service decided that professional high-level League of Legends players are recognized, again, as professional athletes. Accordingly, the procedure for obtaining a visa in the United States for such a person is greatly simplified, and does not differ from the procedure for obtaining a visa, for example, as a professional baseball player from another country. The first person who was lucky to be a professional athlete during the visa application process was Danny “Shiphtur” Le, a Canadian, who is one of the most famous representatives of the League of Legends community (a game that was mentioned more than once or twice on Habré).

On July 11 this year, a representative of Riot Games, which deals with electronic sports (read - gamers' competitions), was able to convince the U.S. immigration service that League of Legends is still a sport. The same Canadian, Danny "Shiphtur" Le, could not get a visa to the USA because of some kind of problems with a work permit. And the manager of Riot Games, who needed this player, managed to negotiate with the country's immigration service.

“The service recognized that e-sports is still a sport. Now we (upon obtaining a visa) have the same designation as professional NBA or NHL players, or any other professional sports league. ”

This change, as far as one can judge, can easily facilitate obtaining a US visa for foreigners who are part of the American gamer team. Of course, the process of obtaining permission to undergo a simplified visa procedure was not easy, and Riot Games had to make significant efforts to convince the immigration and other US services dealing with foreigners.

It is worth noting that a visa for professional athletes in the USA allows players to stay in the country for up to five years. So high-level gamers are likely to now look for the opportunity to become part of the American team, and get this type of visa.

Via theverge