P-1 Approval for Indian Boxer Takes Over 2.5 Years after Egregious Treatment from USCIS

Sherrod Sports Visas is proud to announce a game-changing stream of approvals for boxers who have a desire to compete in the biggest promotions in the United States but are not yet signed to a company.

There is an increase in interest for professional boxers looking for P-1 visas to be available for short-notice opportunities in the Matchroom USA, Top Rank Inc., Salita Promotions and more.

Sherrod Sport Visas petitioned for Mrs. Meena Kumari as a professional boxer for SDS Sports Group. The petition was first filed in April 2019. Subsequently, the USCIS had sent an RFE. 

The request for evidence (RFE) was responded to on August 27, 2019, clearly addressing all the queries raised in the RFE. 

For over seven months, there was no action on the response sent by Sherrod Sport Visas for the request for evidence. After waiting for seven months, Sherrod Sport Visas sent a letter inquiring about the status of the case. 

USCIS HAD SHOWN NEGLIGENCE BY NOT RESPONDING ON TIME AS WELL AS IN THE MANNER THAT THE RESPONSE TO THE RFE WAS ADJUDICATED BY THE OFFICER. 

In response to the inquiry, the USCIS sent them back the very same request for evidence (RFE) that was responded to in August 2019.  The USCIS had messed up and sent the same one. This error is clearly reflected in the case history on the USCIS portal. 

This communication from the USCIS was sent on May 4, 2020, and on May 19, 2020, Sherrod Sport Visas responded to the RFE highlighting the facts that they had already submitted. 

The response on May 19, 2020, by Sherrod Support Visas included a very strong Request for Supervisory Review on the grounds that we did not receive any communication from the USCIS since our response to the RFE in August 2019, and also that there was a response from the USCIS in May 2020 only after we sent an official inquiry and then having a notice put on this file after the ordinary processing time for this petition had passed.

We also highlighted the fact that this RFE was the exact same one that was sent by the USCIS in August 2019 and made a very strong reservation that the evidence we had provided in August 2019 was ignored by the adjudicating officer.

We proceeded to prepare one of the most aggressive and well-thought-out responses to a request for evidence in the history of our law firm. This was on behalf of our entire mixed martial arts and professional boxing immigration practice because we wanted no unnecessary delays due to non-standard evaluation of facts and evidence.

We specifically brought the attention of the adjudicator to evaluate the quality of the evidence submitted on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the evidence submitted satisfies the minimum required to establish eligibility, including determining if evidence in one criterion helps meet the minimum standard by preponderance of evidence in another criterion.  

We highlighted that Mrs. Kumari is one of the most decorated amateur boxers in the world and there is absolutely no way to ignore multiple forms of evidence that she is a world champion when she has competed with the Indian National Boxing team on numerous tournaments, and all of these accomplishments have been well covered and documented by multiple reputable sporting news outlets around the world. 

Meena had won the AIBA Championship at the World Boxing Cup in Germany. The Champion is the number one spot of the tournament. Her ranking is 1st. Other top 5 finishes from National Team Boxing competitions were included with this petition as well.

While we will not divulge the details of this response, we can share that we extensively quoted relevant regulations, rules and procedures and highlighted how they applied to each of the criteria, and in a number of instances, overlapping multiple criteria that were being argued in this response. 

This detailed response to the RFE was also failed to elicit a response from the USCIS. 

The adjudicator’s number of course was not listed. But we desperately wanted it and also wanted to address the root of the issue by bringing accountability to this unprofessional act of the officers in this case. They may be doing this to other cases and it is a matter of shame. 

REQUEST FOR CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY ON THE P-1 VISA APPLICATION

With no option left, we sent letters to request adjudication on this case and requested a congressional inquiry on this case with Thom Tillis’s office. 

We would like to announce that our request was granted after the relentless follow-up by Mr. Sherrod of Sherrod Sports Visas.  

This case was finally approved on March 8, 2021.

This approval solidifies our law firm as one of the nation’s best options for professional boxers and mixed martial artists looking to compete in the most prestigious promotions in the world. That means a lot to us and we are only going to get better.