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‘eSports as athletes’ petition gets an official White House response

By Daniel George

Apr 23, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; President Barack Obama speaks during a ceremony honoring the 2014 Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots on the South Lawn at the White House. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 23, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; President Barack Obama speaks during a ceremony honoring the 2014 Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots on the South Lawn at the White House. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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The #FreeLeffen petition to recognize all eSports as “legitimate” sports receives an official comment from the White House.

After attaining more than the 100,000 required signatures as part of an official “We The People” White House petition, the White House made an official comment on the request to recognize all eSports games as “legitimate” sports, allowing competitors in such eSports tournaments to come to the US with P1 non-immigrant work visas.

To give a little bit of backstory to this petition, a top Super Smash Bros. Melee player, William “Leffen” Hjelte of Sweden, was deported from the United States in 2015 for taking on an American sponsor, as it was disallowed under his tourist visa. After applying for a P1 visa, he was denied. Seeing how League of Legends players and teams had been allowed to obtain visas, a petition was created to attempt to admonish discrepancies for what is or isn’t an acceptable eSports game.

The official White House comment, unfortunately, did not do much to address this issue, instead insisting that individuals denied P1 visa for eSports purposes follow up on the process with the proper outlets.

“Consistent with the We the People Terms of Participation, we decline to address such matters that are properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies — in this case, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” part of the response reads.

“According to USCIS, the agency responsible for processing P-1 visa applications, there is no current policy categorically precluding an eSport from being recognized as a qualifying athletic competition. In fact, USCIS has approved P-1 visa petitions for athletes seeking to enter the United States to compete in eSport events.”

The “We The People” response also asks those who are interested in applying for a P1 visa under the circumstances to learn more about the application process here, while taking denials up with the DHS Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.

Essentially, no official action was taken, and players like Leffen who were denied P1 visas will have to make a stronger case that their individual eSports game quantifies as an athletic endeavor.

Considering the double standards made by previously allowing League of Legends players and teams into the US under P1 visas, it would seem that those involved in approving the application process don’t quite understand the value of certain games as eSports.

There are numerous differences between party-based fighting games like Smash Bros, and team-based MOBA titles like League of Legends. Expecting the USCIS to navigate and understand those differences to quantify each as eSports is a daunting task. However, it further highlights the problems preventing international eSports players from thriving in the US.

This news also means Leffen will most likely not be attending Evo 2016 this year, even though it is a tournament in which he has never really performed well. His best ever finish at the Las Vegas tournament was 5th, with 9th-place finishes in his other appearances in 2014 and 2013.

h/t Shoryuken

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