NIL International Student Visa Lawsuit

[maccca3232]

ESPN Article

Poa, an Australian point guard who played her past three seasons at LSU, filed a lawsuit earlier this year after she was denied a P-1A visa, which is the document many international professional athletes use to make money while competing in the United States. Poa is currently in the country on an F-1 student visa, which prohibits her from working while in the United States.

In 2023, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department was aware of the issue and planned to find a solution with "deliberate speed" but took no further action.

I understand the logic of ensuring people don't work without a valid visa but why would the government then restrict a person from being able to apply for a different visa?

Is it purely a philosophical one, you are a student, so you are only allowed to apply for a Student visa? If so, why not create a new type of visa type for Student-Athletes?

Or is it based on the assumption that there is a finite amount of NIL money, so by denying overseas players an opportunity, that will increase the amount of NIL money domestic students earn? Is that even true? If so, I would be more concerned about the number of scholarships being offered to international players, which is a scholarship that would have otherwise have gone to a domestic player, than the NIL incentives.

Ultimately international students will still come whether they are eligible for NIL or not but the question is weather more international students come? If they did, would that be a bad for college sports or domestic athletes?

 

[cancontent]

ESPN Article

Poa, an Australian point guard who played her past three seasons at LSU, filed a lawsuit earlier this year after she was denied a P-1A visa, which is the document many international professional athletes use to make money while competing in the United States. Poa is currently in the country on an F-1 student visa, which prohibits her from working while in the United States.

In 2023, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department was aware of the issue and planned to find a solution with "deliberate speed" but took no further action.

I understand the logic of ensuring people don't work without a valid visa but why would the government then restrict a person from being able to apply for a different visa?

Is it purely a philosophical one, you are a student, so you are only allowed to apply for a Student visa? If so, why not create a new type of visa type for Student-Athletes?

Or is it based on the assumption that there is a finite amount of NIL money, so by denying overseas players an opportunity, that will increase the amount of NIL money domestic students earn? Is that even true? If so, I would be more concerned about the number of scholarships being offered to international players, which is a scholarship that would have otherwise have gone to a domestic player, than the NIL incentives.

Ultimately international students will still come whether they are eligible for NIL or not but the question is weather more international students come? If they did, would that be a bad for college sports or domestic athletes?

The result of this lawsuit won't deter international athletes from coming to play in the NCAA. Numbers have been going up consistently year over year. Also, schools are finding ways to pay their international students from what I'm hearing from friends in Canada. Much different then even 2 years ago.

This trend is also happening on the men's side which is very telling. I reference the men's game because, especially in Europe, there wasn't an incentive for international players to leave. I'm seeing names from big name development programs like Mega Hoops of Serbia opt for the NCAA. That wouldn't have happened without NIL opportunities.