World Ranked Kickboxer Aleksander Konovalov Receives P-1A Visa

We are proud to announce that World Ranked Kickboxer Aleksander Konovalov received approval for a 3-year P-1A visa after addressing a very hollow RFE at the USCIS California Service Centre. Boss Lady Promotions served as the petitioner for Aleksander’s P-1A visa that will give him work authorization over the next few years including the flexibility to participate in renowned tournaments for Glory Boxing, the promotional partner.

Managing Member of the firm, Sherrod Seward successfully countered the RFE by pointing the adjudicator to the appropriate evidence proving eligibility for the P-1 visa as an internationally known athlete to USCIS. He was also able to confirm that the exhibition matches and tournaments in which Aleksander would be participating as a renowned kickboxer require the participation of international athletes.

The Athlete:

Mr. Aleksander Konovalov is an internationally recognized athlete and has garnered great victories in regional and international championships. He is an exceptional kickboxer who has competed on the world stage, has faced tremendous competition, garnered international acclaim from fans all over the world and is ready to continue competing against the best fighters in the world. Mr. Konovalov has competed in various international tournaments in which he was successful including World Championships Seniors, European Championships, IWGA World Games, WAKO Senior European Championships, WAKO World Championship and World Games.

The Petitioner:

Boss Lady Promotions is a management team whose athlete will be competing with Glory Kickboxing as was explained in the original petition along with the inclusion of evidence about Glory Kickboxing.

Thus, the adjudicator should be evaluating whether or not Glory Kickboxing has events that require the participation of international athletes and should use calibre of competition, broadcast considerations, event revenue, and third-party coverage to make this determination. All of this information is included with this response.

About Glory Kickboxing

1. Glory Kickboxing is the number one promoter of professional kickboxing in the world. There is an exhibit include with this petition that confirms this with third party information that recognizes Glory as the premier kickboxing promoter in the world and confirms its broadcasts deals all over the world

2. We have included the roster of Glories Welterweight division that includes the best kickboxing athletes from all over the world

3. Other information is included as well to establish the prestige of glory kickboxing.

We began our response to the request for evidence by explaining to USCIS the importance of an internationally recognized kickboxer and addressed the below queries raised by the USCIS. In addition, we had to include a screenshot of the RFE in the response itself. This was done to highlight the manner in which his international recognition in the field was inconsistently interpreted by the adjudicating officer and how it is not in accordance to the regulations for the P-1 visa.

1. The RFE asked whether the manager and not the promoter was putting on world class events

2. The RFE inquired whether the manager was a major sports league

3. The RFE said multiple World championship level events were only national in nature... even though national events can be sufficient any way.

We also requested supervisory review of the adjudication for the following reasons:

1. We are concerned that the adjudicating officer is inexperienced with I-129PP applications especially for combat sports because the adjudication officer is asking if Boss Lady Promotions has internationally recognized events, when the beneficiary will be clearly competing with the promotional partner Glory Kickboxing

2. The Adjudicator presented information about Major Sports Leagues throughout this petition. This petition is submitted as a P-1A individual athlete, Major Sports Leagues have nothing to do with this petition. This is an individual combat sport. He is a kickboxer.

3. We are concerned with the following issue raised below

Our response highlighted that this adjudication with respect to the recognition of the awards was concerning because 1. National Awards are sufficient under the regulations for P-1, O-1, and even EB-1A 2. In their event names, international coverage, international participation, international purpose, it is difficult to understand how these can be considered national awards. Especially concerning, that these awards TOOK PLACE all over the world. Thus, if the adjudicator is trying to argue that these are national awards, but these awards were acquired in different countries, that would make the beneficiary known for receiving national awards in multiple countries.

Our response to the RFE clearly demonstrated that these are international WAKO events at the very top tier echelon of the sport of kickboxing.

We successfully highlighted and drew the attention of the adjudicating officer to the fact that Internationally recognized athletes are required for such world class kickboxing events due to the following reasons:

1. Kickboxing is incredibly dangerous and people die in exhibitions when not properly matched up. The facility is where many of the world's best athletes come to hone their skills against other world class boxers. A list of deaths related to combat sports is included with this response

2. Kickboxing at the world championship level includes people that are ranked from all over the world that are signed with different organizations. The local top-level domestic boxing professionals require internationals with high skill sets to have exhibitions to prepare for domestic and international matches. These matches must occur with similar kickboxers and boxers with the same degree to ensure the quality of the exhibitions matches with the world championship level matches they will do on TV.

3. The Eastern European kickboxing style is dominating the world of combat sports. The only way for domestic fighters to become better at competing against this style is to face it themselves in exhibitions. The better these exhibitions are, the more prepared they will be to deal with the soviet style in competition.

In addition to the evidence presented in this regard in the original petition, we also presented the following evidence to prove that internationally recognized athletes are essential for such world class exhibitions.

1. List of boxing deaths due to injuries sustained combat sports

2. Document explaining why sparring and exhibitions matches are important

As stated in the original petition:

The beneficiary will only compete in bouts with other fighters near or above his world ranking and experience in his weight class. There are almost few Americans ranked within the top 20 spots below or behind the beneficiary. Thus, this fighter will require bouts and exhibitions against other international athletes close to his ranking. In addition, American fighters that are highly ranked require other highly ranked fighters to compete against. Very few American fighters are ranked high and thus are not afforded the opportunity to move up in the world rankings unless they are granted the opportunity to compete against international talent. The Petitioner has routinely worked with its promotional partners to provide world class platforms for the best professional combat sports athletes in the world to compete against each other in the United States. World Rankings were submitted with this petition that shows world and regional rankings of the beneficiary.

As stated in our petition, we highlighted the fact that Mr. Konovalov is only in the United States to perform, in events of distinguished reputation, with participation of athletes with international reputation.

1. The beneficiary is only in the United States to perform regular exhibitions and internationally broadcasted world class level bouts

2. The beneficiary is an internationally ranked athlete and one of the highest ranked fighters where he currently resides and the athletes that are ranked similarly come from all over the world. Domestic fighters need to compete with fighters of the beneficiary’s skill set in order to move up in the World Rankings and obtain international level experience in exhibition matches.

3. The beneficiary is necessary to compete in high level exhibitions and competitions due to the unique inherent danger of combat sports. Mix matching the level of skill sets in combat sports can lead to serious injury, including deaths, even in exhibitions, if not matched evenly. Several fighters die each year due to combat sports related injuries that often occur due to disparity in skill sets and experience of the combatants.

P-1A eligibility is sometimes much more difficult to prove; however, we have success with Kickboxers all the time as a result of our experience. Aleksander Konovalov’s I-129 P-1A RFE was supported by ample evidence that he meets the criteria and qualifies for the non-immigrant visa.

We included a number of references to earlier cases that were adjudicated successfully.

For more information on how we help support professional kickboxers with O-1 and P-1 visas, please contact our offices at 310-209-8545.