What are options for fighters denied visas at Consulates? 

What to do With consulate denials for P-1 and O-1 visas increasing all over the world? 

There is a noticeable increase in the denial of fighters seeking to gain admission to the United States after being approved for P-1 visas. Most often, these denials are happening at Consulates around the world where the State Department exercises great description. Unfortunately, there typically is not a direct manner to appeal a decision at the consulate. Therefore the applicants and their petitioners in the United States are relying on Consulate officials to give P-1 visa applicants a fair process at the consulate. 

This is not happening. 

Right now, we are currently aware of over a dozen athletes and coaches from multiple petitions that are current victims of unexplained visa denials in the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Armenian Consulates. 

What tools can P-1 consulate denials use to rectify the situation? 

Individual P-1 visa denials at the consulate cannot be appealed directly to the consulate. In addition, it is pretty impossible to get a lawsuit on a single P-1 visa denial. If a decision is pending at a consulate too long, a Mandamus lawsuit can be filed to speed up a decision, but the lawsuit does not impact the decision itself. 

The next option is to reapply and include a waiver request that explains the situation to the consulates so they can consider it at the consulate. Or the consulate sends the waiver request back to the Department of State in A person who has been denied a nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. consulate may be eligible for a waiver of ineligibility. 

The kind of waiver issued at the next visa interview depends on the original reason for the denial

212(d)(3) waivers are used for consulate denials under section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This waiver explains that denial of the visa would cause extreme hardship to someone in the United States. In this case it would be the petitioner and sports industry in the United States. 

214(b) waivers are used for consulate denials under 214(b) in which the consulate officer decides that an applicant does not have enough ties to the home country to show that they will return to the United States. The 212(b) waiver would show ties to the home country and that the applicant has a great reason to return after the temporary visit to the United States. These waivers are still at the discretion of the consular officer who can still deny the waiver. 

I-212 waiver for persons previously deported or removed from the United States. For persons that have actually had a deportation or removal from the United States. They can unilaterally apply themselves to have the situation reviewed by Customs and Border Protection. This process typically takes 150 days for the CBP to begin reviewing the application and usually does not provide feedback if they do not approve the application. Because of the timing and opaque nature of the process, this option is not recommended over having a petitioner involved. 

Should I pursue next steps at the same consulate or change consulates?

If you are experiencing an issue with a single consulate for just one athlete, the best practice is to try a different consulate. Oftentimes, the consulate will repeat the same process and you may even get the same officer reviewing the file. While consulates do share information, some consulates are directed to reject visa applications than others due to the statistical history of persons overstaying visas. 

If the same petitioner is experiencing multiple issues with the same consulate, we suggest applying pressure to the consulate first and then pursuing interviews at the same consulate. We suggest using the congressional inquiry process to let local congressional officials know about a systematic pattern and contact the consulate about that issue. 

Another potential step is litigation when there are multiple persons that are being held up by the same consulate. While individual decisions cannot be litigated, there is a potential pathway to litigate for multiple persons due to a pattern of unreasonable denials.