Immigration bill and MLS implications

interesting...

"Last year, 36,960 individuals and family members were granted "priority" permanent resident status under the "extraordinary abilities" category. Under the 100-point system established by the bill, "extraordinary or ordinary" ability in a specialized field would offer, at most, eight additional points to a candidate. That is less than the 10 points that would be awarded to applicants holding a two-year college degree."

I'd say yeah its gona make things tougher, but hey, it's still gona be nowhere near as tough as it is getting to play in say, England

 

This is just a proposal - There's going to be lots of modifications to this bill and the scoring system - And even then it might not get out of subcommittee hearings

ALL SPORTS in the US will be affected - Baseball, Basketball, Hockey - Not just Soccer - Affect on Football will be there but relatively minor and not nearly as great as on the others - Just its affects on Baseball and Basketball alone will dictate some major changes in the initial proposal

And then there's the Engineering/Science job market thingy

And then there's the Cultural Icon thingy

 

From what I could gather from that bill, the changes are largely around expedited green card status. I don't think MLS players have generally gotten that.

 

Lots of players who stay here have. It's generally one of the lures of coming here. Jaime Moreno, for instance, is a US green card holder.

 

Yes he does but I don't think he was expedited in any special way because he is an athlete, but I could be wrong.

 

I'm having VPN problems and can't use LexisNexis at the moment, but anyone concerned about this law might want to look into how O1 and P1 employment visas would change. (Immigration law is NOT my specialty.) My understanding is that players signed to MLS deals automatically get a P1, that there's nothing like the UK Home Offices' review process for a sportsman's work permit.

ANYTHING could change in this bill with all the amendments floating around. I can't talk anyone who listens to Lou Dobbs' frothing into changing their views on "amnesty" or the need for agricultural labor, but there could very well be a direct effect on MLS if it passes.

 

I think Moreno got his green card last year or the year before that. I don't think 8 years is an expedited process. The example in the article talked about green cards almost concurrent with the visa issuance.

Here's the part of the article I was referring to.

 

Lots of players who stay here have. It's generally one of the lures of coming here. Jaime Moreno, for instance, is a US green card holder.
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Generally, professional athletes who are coming to the U.S. to play on a professional team are accorded P non-immigrant visa status. The EB-1 visa that is creating all the fuss at the moment, is an immigrant visa category, which doesn't affect most foreign players presently playing on a team in the U.S. I think Moreno got his visa because his wife is an American, which, if true, would fall under a different immigrant visa category (IR-1). Was Abreu issued an EB-1 visa when he first came to the U.S.? I think perhaps he was admitted under a different type visa then adjusted status while in the U.S. That's usually what happens in these cases. His coming to to the U.S. under an EB-1 seems strang (fishy).

 

In all honesty, illegal immigration is good for the sport of soccer in this country.

 

I don't know about the rest of it, but Jaime's wife is English. As far as whether he was expedited, I don't know if we know when he applied for it (maybe we do and I just missed it).

 

maybe. But soccer's down the priority list

 

Not nearly as good as legal immigration would be.

 

i say that the US provides amnesty to those illegal aliens already here as long as 60% of them convert from FMF to MLS within 1 years time. If after 1 year they do not support MLS, well then: RAUSSS!

 

ABCnews.com has many great articles to help you on this Immigration Bill and it's status among illegal immigrants, Americans, and the political alike.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how waiting 8 years for a green card is an expedited process. The EB-1 or whatever visa essentially means the green card and the visa come at the same time, not after 8 years of slogging around in MLS. Now, I'll grant you that I don't know what kind of visas are gotten for international soccer players in MLS, but I bet they're not of that variety as I've heard of not one MLS player getting a green card upon starting with the league. I could see Beckham being a player that might qualify, but I don't really see him going for that visa.

Edit: I see he was here 10 years before receiving the green card. My guess is he applied for it while here on his visa.

http://www.usagcls.com/Sep1.asp

 

Last I checked, the international players in MLS are not illegal immigrants.

 

I know that. Did I say they were? No. But this has huge implications on immigrants going to MLS games and watching them too.

 

Ja. Ich finde das sehr gut.

 

Oh, you've been worried about the people attending the games, not the players. Thank for setting me straight

 

I would guess that in order to get any particular visa, you must apply for that particular visa. Perhaps--as in I don't know this--perhaps Moreno chose to do this after having been here a while. I just threw it out there.

You wanna cross examine me some more, counselor?

 

Oh and while we're being obnoxious assholes, I'll note this was obvious the first time to everyone but you.

 

By the way, the political stuff has been binned. Keep the comments relevant to soccer.

 

How do you figure?

The immigration bill will only change the status of people, not bring more "soccer fans" into the stadiums