It’s doubtful that you haven’t heard about William “TSM|Leffen” Hjelte’s P-1 Visa issues by now. I’m not going to be going over the nitty gritty here; that was already done at length earlier this month here on SRK. The important footnote is that the response to Leffen being denied a Visa was huge. In response to this perceived injustice, a petition was started on the official White House site. The petition requests that all eSports players should be allowed Athlete Visas. Competitors in League of Legends are considered athletes by the government and have been given Visas, so the case for eSports competitors getting Visas has already been made, and won, in some ways.
How the petition site works is that if you get 100,000 signatures within 30 days, you’ll get an official response from the White House on the matter within 60 days of the petition’s closure. While a “yes” isn’t guaranteed–and no one should get their hopes too high–getting this petition to the goal number is definitely a step in the right direction. If the White House moves in our favor, it could mean that many other international eSports players could have their lives made easier moving forward.
Once more, It’s important to stress that reaching this goal doesn’t guarantee anything, so please keep expectations reasonable.
Source: The White House