Recent tennis related inquiry on P-1 visa for ATP tennis player and P-1S coach

I’m looking for assistance for the application process of a P1 visa (for a tennis player with a high international ranking), and a P1S (for myself as I am his coach).

I would like to know if you can help me and what would be the total cost for both visas.

He is ranked top 600 in the ATP ranking and currently plays tournaments around the world. He recently went to play in America with an ESTA and will have to often go back in the future. He also had an F1 visa and he played tennis on a full scholarship for a D1 school.

I’m his coach and good friend, and I would like to get the P1S through him. I also was in college in America from 2013 to 2017 with an F1 visa.

Please let me know if you think it is a challenging situation or if I should be able to get the visas.

Thank you in advance,

Response regarding P-1 Visa for ATP ranked tennis player and P-1S essential support staff?

This case is a perfect scenario for obtaining a P-1 visa for both the tennis player and coach. In fact, we recently had the same situation work out for world ranked ATP tennis player Maria Martinez (https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mario-vilella-martinez/v824/overview). He was able to also obtain a P-1s visa for his coaching staff.

Tennis players that are already active in major tournaments, have a ranking of at least 600 in the world, and also have previous NCAA D1 experience are a best case scenario for obtaining a P-1 visa as a tennis player. Many tennis players who are just starting out, have issues obtaining a P-1 visa due to interary issues with USCIS. We wrote in great detail about this issue when discussing Name Image Likeness solutions for tennis players still in school https://www.oaklg.com/international-student-tennis-players-on-p-1-visas.

It is a great idea for the tennis player to switch from ESTA to P-1 visa if they are going to be coming often to the United States for three reasons.

First, the athlete will probably draw a flag from Customs and Border Protection for the constant travel on ESTA Visa Waiver. The athlete may be stopped soon or even have their ESTA privileges revoked. 

Second, while it is appropriate for someone to travel and only get paid prize money on the ESTA visa waiver, it is not appropriate to obtain salary from sponsorships or other guaranteed remuneration

Third, the P-1 visa of course opens up the opportunity for P-1S essential support staff visas. The P-1S is an excellent tool to not only obtain access for one coach, but we often have multiple persons, including extended family members, take advantage of the P-1S essential support staff visa. 

Overall, this tennis player is a great candidate for P-1A and supporting a P-1S petition because already playing major tour tennis

In one of our most recent P-1 tennis petitions, we were able to successfully argue the itinerary issue with USCIS using the following tour information in both the P-1 and P-1S petition

US Open

The US Open Tennis Championships is a hardcourt tennis tournament. The US Open is chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, originally known as the U.S. National Championship, for which men's singles and men's doubles were first played in August 1881. It has a prize money worth $57.5 million. 

29 August – 12 September, 2022

Atlanta Open

The Atlanta Open (known for sponsorship reasons as the Truist Atlanta Open), is a professional men's tennis tournament that has been played in the Atlanta area in the United States since 2010, usually during July or August. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts as part of the USTA's US Open Series, the seven-week summer season lead-up to the U.S. Open.

The event was previously held in Indianapolis from 1988 until it was moved to Atlanta after 2009. The Atlanta Open was known as the Atlanta Tennis Championships for its first two years before signing BB&T as a title sponsor in 2012. In 2015, the tournament was acquired by GF Sports from its then-owners, the USTA.

25 July - 31 July, 2022

Cincinnati Open

The Cincinnati Masters (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city.[1] The tournament is the second largest summer tennis event in the U.S. after the US Open, as its men's event is one of the Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour and its women's event is one of the WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour.[2]

14 August, 2022 - 21 August, 2022

The locations may change as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

These schedules will be repeated in similar detail over the next 3 years. 

For more information or to be evaluated for P-1A eligibility, please use www.oaklg.com/athletes