Episode 77: Nika Mühl and gender disparities in the P-1 visa process

It’s June 6, and this is your BAL Immigration Report.

• USCIS announces a trial launch of E-Verify Plus.
• A new study finds that immigrants are strongly linked to economic growth and innovation.
• More from the head of BAL’s Sports and Entertainment practice on the stalled WNBA debut of basketball star Nika Mühl.

“I’ve specifically called USCIS representing an NBA team, and I’ve also called them representing a WNBA team — and I can tell you they answer the phone much faster and get your job done much faster when you’re calling from that NBA team.”

—Gabriel Castro, BAL Senior Associate

U.S. news

E-Verify Plus trial launched

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced the trial launch of E-Verify Plus, an upcoming service that integrates Form I-9 with the E-Verify employment eligibility verification process. The E-Verify Plus portal will allow employees to directly input their personal information and documentation, which the employer can then review and approve. USCIS expects E-Verify Plus to significantly decrease errors by having employees directly input their information and documentation. E-Verify was initially launched in 1996 to help employers confirm employee eligibility for working in the United States.

Study shows immigrants associated with business innovation

The National Bureau of Economic Research released findings indicating that immigrants account for a quarter of new businesses in the U.S. and are overrepresented as founders in the high-tech industry. This study, which will be published by Harvard Business School in the upcoming Migration and Innovation: A Research Agenda, found that a business is more likely to have a patent if the owner is an immigrant and that firms founded by immigrants are up to 4.5% more likely to produce new technologies. The economists behind the study say these findings suggest that immigrant entrepreneurs are more strongly linked to innovation, economic growth and labor adjustment, especially in the high-tech sector.

U.S. news roundup

• The Department of Homeland Security proposed to amend and clarify the regulations concerning the 9/11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit fee for H-1B and L-1 visas.
• The Labor Department posted updated H-2B processing times.
• The filing period for H-1B registrations selected in this year’s lottery is set to close June 30.

Spotlight

A conversation with BAL Senior Associate Gabriel Castro: more on the saga of Croatian native Nika Mühl, the college basketball star whose WNBA debut was delayed because of visa problems.

BAL Immigration Report: Last week, Gabriel Castro joined the BAL Immigration Report to offer his analysis on the situation. This week, we’ll play more of that conversation — including Castro’s thoughts on the disparities in the way female and male athletes’ visa applications are handled. We opened by asking Castro for more information about the P-1 visa that Mühl obtained before her debut last month with the Seattle Storm.

Castro: The P-1 visa is a visa specifically for professional athletes. Athletes can qualify based off a number of different possibilities, one of which is, do you belong to a league that qualifies as a professional sports league? The WNBA meets that criteria, and Nika Mühl will qualify into that. She was drafted in the second round by the Seattle Storm after having a phenomenal career with the UConn Huskies at the collegiate level. And now, Nika, after she was drafted in last month’s draft, she was sponsored for the P-1 petition by the Seattle Storm. This process either was delayed or was just processed slowly, and she was actually delayed in entering the United States on that P-1 visa. She missed her preseason practicing, missed the preseason games and has actually missed her first four games of the WNBA season.

You know it happens in sports, but you hate to see it at any level, and something that I am quite familiar with — representing multiple female athletes across several different sports — is that sometimes that the women’s sports don’t get the same sort of treatment as the men’s sports do. I’m not saying that this wouldn’t have happened in the NBA instead of the WNBA, but I’ve specifically called USCIS representing an NBA team, and I’ve also called them representing a WNBA team — and I can tell you they answer the phone much faster and get your job done much faster when you’re calling from that NBA team. They — specifically, the last time I made that call — seemed incredulous to the idea that that treatment even existed when I was calling for a WNBA team. WNBA gets treated differently than NBA for the USCIS, and I think that’s a trend that needs to change.

BAL: Castro detailed all the hoops involved for Mühl, and nonimmigrant WNBA players in general, to obtain their P-1 visas.

Castro: The WBA draft is about a month before the season begins. It allows for very little time to be filing these petitions and bringing in your foreign athletes. There’s a number of other things that trying to get the season started so quickly after the draft creates issues, but the immigration is going to be tough — immigration is slow, U.S. immigration is a tough process for everybody. It doesn’t help that the WNBA would go a little bit faster for the immigration process, but they start already at a handicap because of how little time they had to apply and trying to get here in time for the first game is pretty tough. Again, it’s about a month. You not only have to prepare and file that petition, you need the petition to be approved.

If you’re not filing premium processing, you’re talking about a month right there for you just waiting for the USCIS, or maybe even two months. If it is with premium processing right now, that has increased to 15 business days instead of 15 calendar days — just that addition right there would have cost her two regular season games. The adjudication period is one; the second is booking that appointment in her home country. There was a brief time post-pandemic where it seemed like we were going back to normal a little bit and consular appointments were becoming easier to come by. But more and more of these processes are becoming delayed. They’re being backlogged across the board, and you’re seeing these issues like Nika being delayed to the United States because of these backlogs.

This is a very important year for international sports in general, but particularly for women’s basketball, which is an Olympic sport. Of course she would like to be able to play with the Croatian national team and travel with them both to Paris and to the games leading up to that, and it would require her having that P-1 visa in her passport. This does add a few days to the process. We did see that they flew her up to Vancouver. She was able to have that interview at the consulate in Vancouver and come back to the United States. But overall, it is a slower process.

BAL: Castro attributed USCIS’ tardy response to glaring gender disparities. He shared his hope for change in the future.

Castro: The disparity of treatment between women and men in many ways in sports is a continuing trend. I don’t think this is something that USCIS is looking at or something that they’re really prioritizing to change. I think that there’s multiple ways that this issue could be solved. Especially when you’re in in the men’s sports arena, more people are willing to move those obstacles from your path, and it’s just not the case for women’s sports, and so it’s something I’d like to see change.

Global news

Further details on GCC tourist visa

The Emirati government has provided additional details on the new Gulf Cooperation Council tourist visa. The visa will be similar to the Schengen visa, allowing foreign nationals to travel on one multiple-entry tourist visa through the six GCC member states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Additional details are yet to be confirmed, but it is expected that the visa may allow for an extended 30-day tourism stay — longer than the currently permitted maximum — and no additional fees to apply for eligible travelers who hold a passport valid for at least six months.

Australia increases salary threshold

The Australian government announced that the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold will increase from 70,000 to 73,150 Australian dollars, effective July 1. New nomination applications will need to meet the new threshold or the annual market salary rate, whichever is higher. Existing visa holders and nominations filed before July 1 will not be impacted by the increase. The legislation is pending release and more information will be provided once it becomes available.

Global news roundup

• The Canadian government announced new support measures for Haitians.
• In Vietnam, a mandatory reporting deadline for employers with foreign workers is set for July 5.
• A temporary measure that allowed Ukrainian nationals to enter Ireland without a biometric passport will come to an end this week.

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