Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield has temporarily stepped down from Chaos' active lineup as he returned to the United Kingdom due to visa issues.

The British AWPer announced he was back in his home country today on Twitter, a day before Chaos' match against Gen.G in Flashpoint 1. It is currently unclear how long smooya will be out for as he looks to solve some visa issues before being able to fly back to the United States.

smooya is unavailable for Chaos' upcoming matches

The 20-year-old player hinted at his situation being similar to that of Kaleb "⁠moose⁠" Jayne, who is currently unable to play for Envy as he is awaiting his P1 visa, and is being substituted by the team's coach, Nikola "⁠LEGIJA⁠" Ninić.

smooya explained the situation in detail in a following TwitLonger, explaining that COVID-19 measures have complicated the process to get his P1 visa approved:

"Currently with all the COVID-19 stuff happening I've had to return to the UK since I have no more days left on my ESTA. I have already been approved for my P1 but the problem came when my interview got canceled since the embassy in the UK is closed. So I can't stay in America and have to wait for a new interview date."

"Until this whole situation is fixed I will be moved to the bench for ChaosEC. They will find a replacement soon to help them finish the rest of Flashpoint and any other events they have coming up.

"I should be back very soon, it sucks because we just got a roster I was happy with but its just a small set back!

"I'll be back soon boys, hold tight." - smooya

smooya's last match for Chaos was in the ESEA MDL S33 playoffs where the squad finished 5-6th as, due to the roster lock, they had to field their coach Matthew "⁠mCe⁠" Elmore instead of Hunter "⁠SicK⁠" Mims.

Chaos are now: