Professional StarCraft player Kim Dong-hwan couldn’t get a student visa to come to the US, but he could get an athletic visa:
His manager, Andrew Tomlinson, put together a lengthy application of around 500 pages, including recommendations from members of the gaming community.
Bingo. The U.S. authorities approved Mr. Kim’s application earlier this month, granting him a P-1 Visa with a five-year term.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Securities says a P-1 visa is for someone “internationally recognized with a high level of achievement; evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered so that the achievement is renowned, leading or well known in more than one country.”
Foreign baseball players joining the U.S. Major League usually enter the U.S. with the same visa.