As many of our readers know by now, Team SoloMid’s William “Leffen” Hjelte (a Swedish citizen) recently applied for a P-1 visa through the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) for entry into the United States to compete in a few upcoming Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments, but was rejected. The P-1 visa permits athletes to enter and stay in the United States for up to five years to compete in a sports competition or performance. Following a second application, the USCIS granted Leffen a short-term P-1 visa allowing him to stay in the United States through July. Melee fans can rest easy for now, as Team SoloMid have reassured followers that Leffen will make Evo this summer for what is certain to be another hype tournament.

But the main problem with Leffen’s temporary P-1 visa is just that–it’s temporary. Not to mention that it took him two bites at the apple for approval.

As the fighting game community grows and more eSports organizations and companies become interested in the competitive fighting game scene, the FGC should think about Leffen’s recent situation and take a moment for self-evaluation: what standards or guidelines does it have in place to hedge against the discretion of a USCIS government official deciding on a P-1 application for a foreign fighting game player in the future? In other words, what can the FGC do to minimize the chances that foreign fighting game players do not run into the same trouble that Leffen did down the road, if anything?

Answering that question involves an examination of what the USCIS requires in a P-1 visa, how the FGC has responded since last week, and the issues that it needs to consider going forward. The bottom line is that the FGC should do what it can so that American eSports teams and organizations are not deterred from sponsoring foreign players as our community grows.

For the most part, other communities in the competitive eSports scene have successfully obtained visas for their foreign competitors, but this is a definite first for the FGC at large.

The P-1 Application Process

Leffen’s need to enter the United States by way of the P-1 visa is directly connected to his sponsorship team. Team SoloMid is an American company, incorporated under the laws of California as “Team Solomid LLC.” Because Leffen would be in the United States as an employee earning wages from an American employer, he is not eligible to enter the United States through the temporary, ninety-day USCIS visa waiver program. If he wanted to enter under the waiver program, he would have to forfeit his ability to earn an income from his team while in the United States.

On the other hand, players like Team Secret’s (a European-based organization) Poongko would not need to jump through the P-1 hoop because Poongko qualifies for entry through the waiver program. Smash commentators have already noted that UGS Armada will enter the United States through the waiver program because his sponsor is also a non-American based organization.

That’s the important distinction. If a foreign fighting game player is sponsored by an American eSports organization and wants to make money while they are here (for a period up to five years), the P-1 visa is the only way to go.

The USCIS offers the following guideline on an applicant’s P-1 eligibility:

“You must be 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.”

An organization seeking P-1 status for one of their employees would have to provide, among other things, the documentation of two of the following:

Evidence of having participated to a significant extent in a prior season with a major United States sports league.

Evidence of having participated to a significant extent in international competition with a national team.

Evidence of having participated to a significant extent in a prior season for a U.S. college or university in intercollegiate competition.

A written statement from an official of a major U.S. sports league or an official of the governing body of the sport which details how you or your team is internationally recognized.

A written statement from a member of the sports media or a recognized expert in the sport which details how you or your team is internationally recognized.

Evidence that you or your team is ranked, if the sport has international rankings.

Evidence that you or your team has received a significant honor or award in the sport.

While the Smash community has already launched a campaign to petition the White House to direct the USCIS to recognize Melee as a “legitimate” sport, the best way the FGC can solve the problem is by looking at what it has in place to help an applicant provide evidence of what the applications calls for.

If we analyze the FGC in terms of what the guidelines require, we would have to ask questions like what parts of the FGC could be considered a “league”? Who in the FGC would count as “sports media”? Or a “recognized expert”? Do we have official “international rankings” in place? Could winning a weekly tournament qualify as a “significant honor” or “award”?

Today’s FGC Infrastructure

Ever wonder why League of Legends and Dota 2 competitive play is structured in a “season” format? It’s because of the language of the P-1 standards. That’s also why League of Legends calls its competition the “league championship series.” These scenes are tracking the language of what the USCIS would require for a P-1 applicant, helping future members prove their “athlete status.” These competitive scenes also have an official form of ranking teams and athletes in their competitive scenes.

To its credit, the FGC does a great job of ranking the top players in the wide array of fighting games out there. This site keeps an ongoing, updated list of the top ten players of popular fighting games weighted by tournament results, and the Capcom Pro Tour also keeps its rankings up-to-date following results from Street Fighter V tournaments. The Smash scene also tracks the success of its competitors in a ranked list. But these scattered lists throughout the community only undermine the scene legitimacy instead of enforcing it in the eyes of the USCIS.

Think of the NBA. Fans know that there is one governing body. They know that there is one set of rankings. They know that prior seasons are clearly defined. And they know what qualifies as a “significant honor” or “award” in the sport. Answering those questions in the FGC is a bit harder.

The debate about a governing body for the FGC has been going on for at least a decade (here is one example of SRK discussing the issue). And while structuring the competitive scene like League of Legends leagues and seasons for each fighting game could work well for some games, it might interfere with lesser-played games that rely on multi-game tournaments across the country.

And that’s the hard part. Should the FGC—from Smash to Guilty Gear to Street Fighter—think about organizing itself like League of Legends or some other eSports game so that government officials making the call on a fighting game player’s P-1 visa have an easier time approving it?

Having the Debate

The focus of the White House petition described above is only focused on determining that Melee is a legitimate competitive sport. But that was not the only reason Leffen’s first application was denied. There were problems meeting the rest of the standards too.

The pertinent issue facing the FGC is no longer whether the public sees competitive fighting games (or competitive games in general) as a legitimate sport. The eSports section of ESPN and Yahoo! shows that the debate over that issue is mostly over. The number–in terms of winnings and viewership–do too. The issue is whether the FGC is willing to adapt to the competitive structure of League of Legends or the NBA so that USCIS decision makers can clearly see that it meets the P-1 requirements.

And, if it is not, is it willing to take the chance that a player like Leffen might not be able to compete in the United States on a P-1 visa in the future in order to keep things the way they are now?

The Capcom Pro Tour’s rankings and tournament system is a good start, but it would help if they could do the same for other competitive fighting games. Evo’s old “Road to Evo” system was also a good start at coming up with a formal structure. And the solution to this problem might not even lie with members of the FGC at all—it could be a responsibility developers of the game should be charged with. There is not one clear or correct answer.

It is great that members of the Smash community like ZeRo and members of r/smashbros have started a campaign to direct the attention of federal lawmakers to the issue, but altering the P-1 visa standards is just not on Washington DC’s radar right now. On top of that, the most a White House petition will ever get the community is a letter from its policy members recognizing the issue (if at all). For those readers unfamiliar with immigration and administrative law, the actual way federal agencies get input from the public is through a long, slow, and onerous process known as “notice and comment,” not White House petitions.

Nobody is against the proposition that FGC members should do everything in their power to fight for and spread the idea that competitive gaming is a legitimate sport. But if we want to make it easier for foreign fighting game players to be sponsored by American eSports teams and organizations and make a living off of it, we have to decide whether we want to adopt the structure that the P-1 guidelines contemplate, or if we can find a simpler solution.

There is not an issue that the FGC has not overcome yet, and this one is not any different.

Sources: The White House, USCIS, Team SoloMid, NBC News