How do P-1S Essential Support Staff visas work with P-1 Internationally Recognized Athlete Visas?
In almost all situations, the support staff persons associated with athletes on P-1 Internationally Recognized Athletes visas cannot obtain their own P-1 visa. The P-1 visa is only for the internationally recognized athletes themselves with one exception. The exception is if the activity supported by the P-1S visa is associated with a major sports league and processed with the Major Sports League processing center in Vermont.
So even if the activity is associated with a major sports league, but the filing is made in California (and not Vermont) the filing will likely be treated as regular filing. Major league sports means organizations with at least 6 teams and revenue over $10,000,000 dollars. Thus new leagues and individual sports, such as track and field, boxing, mixed martial arts, and skiing do not qualify for P-1 visas as essential support staff. Major league sports have a special provision called the COMPETE ACT which was made by Congress to alleviate pressure on the H-2B visa program for seasonal employees. Long story, short; a lot of soccer related activities were using up all the H-2B visas.
Because of this, every support staff person that is not associated with the Major League Sports must apply for P-1S visas in the traditional sense.
What are the terms of a first time P-1S filing in relation to the principal P-1 visa?
First time applicants of P-1S visas receive either one year or the time left on the principal athlete IF the time left under one year. There are exceptions when USCIS makes a mistake in the processing of the approvals and grants the full time left on the principal P-1 holder’s visa or when the principal visa holder has a new application pending after a previous P-1 visa expires.
Bottomline: Almost every first time P-1S visa will only have 1 year of validity. This is not to be confused with the O-2 essential support visa to which the full time left on principle O-1 visa holder is honored on the first filing.
For this reason, we often advocate for organizations and management groups to place an athlete on O-1A if they are eligible so that more essential support staff can obtain longer validity terms. Furthermore, O-1A visas have a wider work authorization for more than just competing which means there can be more essential support staff roles than just the competition staff. For example, a fighter on an O-1A can also potentially start a gym as a business and use the O-2 visa to staff that gym with foreign staff persons from all over the world.
Another interesting note of the P-1S and O-2 essential support staff visas is that multiple persons can be on the same filing. Our law office has filed for over 10 persons multiple times on the same P-1S or O-2 visa application. The drawback is that the entire petition can be denied for all the beneficiaries if there is an issue proving that one candidate on the filing is not eligible for the essential support staff.
How to extend P-1S essential support staff beyond one year after the first filing?
The process is simple; make sure that the principal athlete has more time on their current P-1 visa or has a new application pending. After this confirmation, the P-1S visa holder should file a regular processing application with the start date being the expiration of the current visa.
Notes about the petitioner of P-1S visa applications
The petitioner of P-1S or O-2 visa applications makes no difference on the validity period granted on the filing of the visa. The only exception is if the filing of the petition itself, not the petitioner, is submitted to Vermont major sports league center for an activity associated with major league sports.