USCIS has defined alien video gamers as athletes for immigration purposes in response to the pressure from lobbyists.
As humorist Dave Barry would say, "I am not making this up."
The July 16 Time headline is: "Pro Gamers Get U.S. Work Visas, Thanks to Industry Lobbyists".
The organization pulling off this coup is called Riot Games, it has a multi-player video game called "League of Legends" and will have some competitions involving the game in Los Angles this fall. Millions of dollars are said to be at stake.
Riot Games lobbyists managed to secure P-1A visas, normally reserved for real athletes, for two foreign video gamers.
This is the same government agency that dubs passive alien investors in the EB-5 program as "entrepreneurs", so the latest verbal stretch is in the USCIS tradition. In the EB-5 program, all the investor has to do is to write a check for half a million dollars, and the investor and family members all get green cards. The investor need not lay eyes on his investment (usually real estate) and often never does.
All of these redefinitions are designed to either make someone eligible to come to the United States who was not previously eligible to do so, or to glorify the status of the new arrival.
USCIS is good at this.
