If you’re from another country and coming to the United States, you need a visa, issued by the government, to stay in the country. There’s a long list of types of visas, 34 by our count, which apply to different types of visitors to the country. This is especially true for foreign workers who plan to work in the United States while here. The most common type of visa used by professional athletes is the P-1 visa. The State Department’s website describes this visa as: “to perform at a specific athletic competition as an athlete or as a member of an entertainment group. Requires an internationally recognized level of sustained performance. Includes persons providing essential services in support of the above individual.”

To get a P-1 visa approved, athletes must achieve two of the following criteria:

Athletes must have participated in a major US sports league
Athletes must have participated in a US college, university, or intercollegiate sports league
Athletes must have participated in a national or international level competition or event
Athletes must have been nationally or internationally ranked in a high position
Athletes must have obtained a national or international award for their excellence

In lower league professional soccer leagues, getting an international player is a difficult task. Lower league soccer leagues don’t generally pay much, particularly if a player is living away from family or friends who might support them. So landing a “nationally or internationally ranked” athlete is unlikely, if not impossible. If a player isn’t nationally ranked, they almost certainly haven’t played in a “national or international level competition or event” or received “a national or international award for their excellence.” So for an international player to qualify for a P-1 visa, that leaves playing for an American college, which plenty of international players have. The other is “participated in a major US sports league.” Herein lies the rub for NISA.

What makes a potential professional team eligible for this visa is this definition from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: “a team that is a member of an association of six or more professional sports teams whose total combined revenues exceed $10 million per year. The association must govern the conduct of its members and regulate the contests and exhibitions in which its member teams regularly engage.” While NISA is growing at a consistent rate, it is clear that the combined revenues of the existing members does not exceed 10 million. That is especially true with the exit of the league’s most financial stable club, Detroit City, in the offseason. So NISA, according to the USCIS standard, is not “a major US sports league.” P-1 visas are off the table.

There’s only one way to get around that stipulation. A tourist visa, referred to by the State Department as a B-2 visa, is the normal route any person from another country would take for the purpose of tourism. But down the line on the list of permitted activities is the out for lower league professional clubs, looking for international talent. Here’s the list from the previous link:

Tourism
Vacation (holiday)
Visit with friends or relatives
Medical treatment
Participation in social events hosted by fraternal, social, or service organizations
Participation by amateurs in musical, sports, or similar events or contests, if not being paid for participating*
Enrollment in a short recreational course of study, not for credit toward a degree (for example, a two-day cooking class while on vacation)

To get around the P-1 visa requirements, lower league club utilize the B-2 visa and simply don’t pay the players to play.

According to a source within a NISA club, the league’s operations guidelines technically prohibit the use of “international amateurs.” However, last year, before the kick-off of the 2021 season, the league voted to allow each team several exceptions (3 or 4, sources have varied). Allegedly this motion carried with 3 clubs voting against this exception. So, given the league’s financial situation, it seems obvious that any international players on a NISA roster last season were playing for free. Just doing a little tourism, it would seem.

This was confirmed by Richard Bryan, who spoke with Protagonist for this article. Bryan, a seasoned player from England, played for former NISA club Detroit City FC, making 8 appearances in 2021. Playing as an amateur, which the defender felt was “a gamble,” wasn’t worth it: “To be honest no, I think because it was only a short season I was going to compete in that’s why I did it because it wouldn’t make sense to do it longer financially. I myself got an injury through it anyway so missed a lot of games so made it a complete waste of time for myself.” League issues, like the referee pay situation and one former owner who regularly started himself in goal, left Bryan with the impression that “it was all a mess and 3 months of what I thought was gonna be good competitive soccer turned into a bit of a nightmare really.” His complaints were less focused on the club, who provided him with room and board during his time in Detroit, but not a paycheck.

Image courtesy of Richard Bryan’s social media account.

Allegedly, the exception allowing the use of “international amateurs” was voted on again by the league’s clubs for this season just a few weeks ago. According to a source, only one club voted against the exception, Chattanooga FC. Every other club voted to allow clubs to continue the use of amateur players from other countries. One front office source claimed that an expansion side had been promised the use of 7 such exceptions and would have refused to participate this season if said exceptions were denied. Seems this “exception” is becoming the rule in the league, with less and less clubs opposing it.

So how many NISA clubs are fielding amateurs on their “professional” lineups? Clearly, every international player can be assumed to be amateur (though Maryland GK Felix Annan would probably qualify for a P-1 visa, given his Ghana national team playing time). Rumors of payment under the table are unconfirmed, even flatly denied by one club when asked. However, if a player is given a place to live and food to eat, is that a fair trade off for season’s work? That’s the real question that any fan of the league needs to ask themselves. When does exposure become exploitation? That question has dogged college athletics and amateur sports for years, clearly it needs to be answered in professional circles as well. To be fair, NISA is not alone in its usage of this loophole, as apparently USL1 has also used this approach to build rosters.

Every lower league soccer club is fighting for survival, amateur or professional. There are realties that fans are blissfully unaware of. Decisions being made that are outside of the public view. But after the NAFC debacle and the information that surfaced during that infamous twitter storm, maybe it’s time for NISA clubs to be honest about how professional they truly are.

- Dan Vaughn

*Protagonist placed this in bold to emphasize it.