B-1 business visitor visa required to enter the U.S. for WSOP

[olivert]

I understand that professional poker players from outside the U.S., including Germany, who intend to play the WSOP, will need a B-1 business visitor visa, as a minimum, in order to enter the U.S.

Otherwise, the immigration officer at the port of entry can (and had in the past) deny a player permission to enter the U.S. and deport the player (back to Germany).

http://germany.usembassy.gov/germany...itor_visa.html

A B-1 business visitor visa specifically allows a competitor to enter the U.S. for the specific purpose to compete in a tournament for prize money. The B-1 visa is only good for at most 6 months at a time.

I am checking with Harrah's Entertainment to see whether it will be willing to issue German players a "letter of evidence of eligibility" to participate in the WSOP, which a player will need to have, before the player go to a U.S. Consulate (Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Liepzig) or the U.S. Embassy in Berlin to apply for a B-1 visa.

http://germany.usembassy.gov/non-immigrant_visas.html

(Those players who already have a P-1 entertainment visa that was sponsored by the World Poker Tour are all set, as the P-1 visa, which is good for 5 years, will also work.)

I am aware of instances where players were able to enter the U.S. under the visa waiver program or with a tourist visa, but those players had to tell the immigration official at the port of entry that they are "on vacation" and they have occupations/jobs other than "professional poker player" or "professional gambler". I do NOT recommend a player take that course of action, as the player would then be lying to the immigration official, which is a serious crime with stiff penalties.

(Disclosure: I am a poker player agent based in the U.S. and I am currently working with a prospective client from Germany.)

[Oof]

Since there aren't any official professional poker players in Germany (playing poker for a living is not considered a profession, so you don't have any benefits nor obligations for being a "pro"), it is perfectly fine to travel to the US and play poker as a tourist.

Even if there were such rules, were wouold you draw the line between an amateur who's playing the ME for the thrill of it, and a pro?

[vodooBBB]

Ist denn jemand von Euch dieses Jahr in Las Vegas ´mit dabei, ob nun als Tourist oder wie auch immer?

Ich bin von 25.6.-2.7. für eine Woche da... jedoch weniger zum Spielen als vielmehr zum weitere Erfahrungen machen...

[olivert]

[ QUOTE ]
Since there aren't any official professional poker players in Germany (playing poker for a living is not considered a profession, so you don't have any benefits nor obligations for being a "pro"), it is perfectly fine to travel to the US and play poker as a tourist.

Even if there were such rules, were wouold you draw the line between an amateur who's playing the ME for the thrill of it, and a pro?

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone who plays poker for a living in Germany will encounter a problem at the port of entry in the U.S. if that player were to tell the immigration official that he plays poker for a living.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) can and will deny entry to foreign nationals, including those from the European Union, if they do NOT have the proper visa to enter the U.S. to play the WSOP, which is considered by the U.S. CIS to be a "business" activity and not a tourist activity.

(French poker pro David Benyamine was detained and jailed over a weekend and subsequently deported in March 2004 for not having either a B-1 or a P-1 visa. His tourist visa was revoked after immigration officials found out that he played in the PartyPoker.net cruise to Mexico WPT event. Benyamine subsequently applied for and was granted a P-1 visa, as the WPT was willing to sponsor him because he won the WPT Grand Prix de Paris event in July 2003. )

Those players who had previously made a World Poker Tour TV final table can apply for a P-1 visa as an "entertainer". The P-1 visa is good for 5 years and can be renewed for another 5 years.

(P-1 visa holders will eventually have to apply for "green cards" to become "permanent residents" of the U.S. after the 10-year limit of P-1 visas expire.)

Otherwise, poker pros from the EU who want to enter the U.S. legally to play the WSOP technically need B-1 visas, which are good for no more than 6 months at a time.

The problem: the U.S. CIS needs a "letter of evidence of eligibility to participate" in the WSOP before the CIS will issue a B-1 visa to a poker pro. At this point, I am not certain whether Harrah's Entertainment will be willing to issue such a letter of evidence.

[olivert]

I am being told by a WSOP official that Harrah's/WSOP will NOT issue letters of evidence of eligibility to international players.

About the only thing left to try: print out the WSOP schedule and the structure sheets of events you want to play, and bring those to the U.S. Consulate or Embassy for your visa appointment.