SoccerWise - Soccerwise: Immigration Lawyer On Soccer Players Moving To America

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

For a special episode David sits down with immigration lawyer Joao Mendes of Arce Immigration Law in Miami to talk about the experience for players coming into the United States. Joao gives us an idea of the process that every team is going through right now as they bring over new signings across MLS & NWSL.Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome back to SoccerWise. David Goss here with a special episode. We've talked a lot around the game. We've talked to referees, we've talked to executives, we've talked to coaches, we've talked to scouts, coaches around the world. We've talked to a lot of people around the game. And I think when you talk about soccer, especially in the United States, you talk a lot about diversity. You talk about people coming from all corners of the world. And so you talk about immigration. And maybe not the sexiest idea to everyone, but I thought it would be really fun to have an immigration lawyer on and someone to talk as an expert about what people are going through in the process of getting athletes and getting players to come into the league and into the country both in MLS and NWSL so from RC Immigration I'm sitting down now with Joe

Mendez here in Coral Gables in Miami my new home your home home home uh thanks for being here of course man thank you so much it's a pleasure to be here and with your audience too. And it's just excited, excited to be able to, like you said, not the sexiest topic ever, but it's needed, right? And definitely for teams and players or maybe even young stars who are looking to potentially play here in the future. It's good to at least know the basics and how it works. It's good knowledge to have. It's a pleasure. We already interviewed referees, so you're not the least sexy thing we're going to talk about don't worry about that we're not actually referee for 10 years no oh man i played i refereed now i i'm in the legal side of things but so i understand all of the different levels this is the christina

uncle resume she's a lawyer and a referee and now refereeing broadcast. Yeah. So there you go. I guess I shouldn't be shocked by that. You like rules and you like the way things work. And I love soccer and I love soccer. Growing up and playing, we used to have a lot of refs that used to ruin the game and kind of just make themselves the priority. So I've always strived to, you you know when i was reffing before law school i was like man let me be the shadow of this game but let me make sure things go yeah so i like to see things work properly there you go you can say that um maybe i'll connect you with pro after this and then we can get you back on the refereeing track well a lot of my buddies

aren't pros but i don't know if i want to get back into all of that you don't want to get yelled at as much no no no i'm, I never liked refs, and I just became one because I needed the money for college. That seems to have been the popular theme with all of them as well. Let's dig in here, though, because for a lot of fans in Major League Soccer and NWSL, international roster spots are currency. There's a limit to the amount of international players

you can have on your roster, so therefore the process of immigration is massive. Getting green cards is a huge part for these teams, for these players, as well as getting citizenship eventually. And for some, it's the draw of why they come to the US and come and play leagues here. So I know there's a lot of ideas for fans. And we got some of the questions in our chat about things they hear from other countries as well. So I want to sort of clear some of those up. So I think the start is, as an athlete coming to the United States to work, is there a special consideration for athletes, like their process? Is it similar to what anyone else would go through coming to work in the United States?

No. So athletes have a specific visa called the p visa which is for an internationally recognized athlete you have the p1a for athletes that's what we do for most of our athletes and p1s for any supporting staff so like a goalkeeper coach right head coach or fitness coach that's usually geared towards them and for many teams that's the easiest visa to get it's the most practical and fastest way to get a visa in and then what we've seen um both in the jujitsu side we have a lot of jujitsu athletes as well um we see that many teams organizations whatever they may be they want to bring in these people for some p visas check them out see how they play and and then eventually get them on a green card or something more permanent um one of the conversations i know in Europe, especially in England,

is what level have you achieved that affects how you get your visa? So they say if you play for a top 50 national team, if you've played in a World Cup or a Copa America, that affects things. Is that the case with any of the process here in the U.S.? It could be. It could be. So for visas in the U.S., we have non-immigrant visas and permanent green cards, EB, employment-based green card visas. The P1s, the bars are much lower. the MLS, if you show that it's a major sports league and that player is recognized internationally, those are basically the two criteria you need. And if they've won a major award or if there's somebody who's an expert in the field and can write about their recognition worldwide, you kind of met the standard for a P visa. So that's easier.

But you also have, when you go to the green card side many file for an eb1 which is 10 different criterias and messing players like suarez etc they'll probably file for those because they've won major leagues and it's very easy for them to prove so it depends which visa you're going for um i would say for the p1 very not very easy but it's easier it's a lower threshold but the eb1 which is for the green1, not very easy, but it's easier. It's a lower threshold. But the EB1, which is for the green card, then you have to have achieved certain criterias like major awards or a lot of publications or high salary above the average and things like that.

So if you are a player who has achieved at a high level, it's quicker in the process to get a green card here in the U.S.? Yes, yes. 100%. And both the P1 and the EB1, they both have premium processing as well, which is an extra fee you pay and you get a response within 15 days. Messi can afford that. Messi can definitely afford that. And for Messi, I'm very curious to know, one day I want to meet whoever filed his case, see how fast that process i think getting the presidential freedom of honor probably helps or the world cup you know one of those might help so so when fans teams sign players they should be considering what that

player's background is in terms of the speed in which they'll be able to get converted over to that green card or to get in the country? Is the initial visa affected that much by what that player's background is? And can you give us an idea sort of the thresholds of, is a Colombian international with two caps what we're talking about? Yeah, I guess it depends on the priority. So like if the team has a certain limited amount of spots, right, and they want to get that guy straight on a green card to free up one of those spots, then they're looking towards that EB1.

And then, yes, they are going to be looking for a player who has you know has won major awards in this field has has had a few publications has played at better teams or maybe even for their national team that's a criteria as well but if they're looking guys to just fill up the roster because they need international players they will go through the pv's up they wouldn't need to really be specific on what they're looking for so long as that player is recognized internationally they should be good so we're not looking at a world cup winner right we're looking at a guy who's maybe played first division who has had a few publications written about him which most do and that should kind of already be enough and of course have one uh one or two uh troph with their team, that should be enough. So I don't know if that answers

your question. You mentioned MLS versus USL. Does it change at the different levels then? USL teams use a lot more of the P visa. MLS teams, they do bring on a lot of P's as well at first, but then they're doing a lot more green cards. USL,

you get a lot of players changing teams constantly, right? I mean, the Miami team here, I think they're doing a lot more green cards. USL, you get a lot of players changing teams constantly, right? And the Miami team here, I think they're looking at bringing in 10 new players on P visas. I guess they were just bought out by an Argentine group, and they wanted to bring a bunch of Argentinians over. So they're using a lot of the P visas. And USL teams, obviously,

you're not getting the big dogs from the other leagues. So those guys maybe don't have enough enough criteria now for a green card what they do for a p right right so um one of the big things right now is buying acquiring younger players to be able to train them and then sell them on like we see around the world does age affect this heavily no we've done p visas for 16 year olds usually when they're younger we'll get a letter from the parents or the organization explaining what they're coming to do and how they've achieved a certain level at the young age but no there's no certain age requirement we've never done for like a 13 year older per se but 16 17 we have so yes you can do it as well and what gives people

an idea about timeline so you know it's january right now let's say fc dallas signs a player from ecuador what is the timeline about how long it takes and what is the player allowed to do in the interim sure so it could be as fast as because it's it's going to depend on the firm and how much documentation they have about the league and so on because every firm takes a little while to prepare a case. For example, here, we're really, really big on the jiu-jitsu community as well as the soccer. So in the jiu-jitsu, we already have all of the documentation prepared because it's not only talking about that one player.

We have to explain how the league is important, how it's recognized, and that's the same documentation. So I would assume an office that has experience doing those cases, they'll have all of that documentation there. We can get a case filed as quickly as two, three weeks if we need. And then, like I said, paying that extra fee for the premium processing, you get a response back in 15 days. So I would say within a month, you can get a player here if you really rush through it. A month to two months is the average. And it depends on the player right if they're already here on a tourist visa and we file from within the united states at the change of status they can

they can stay here hang around but they cannot work until that visa is approved if they're abroad we file the petition if it's approved they have the interview at the consulate get that visa approved on their passport come in and then they can play right away so it depends where we're doing it from um but yeah that they would need the actual visa to then be able to fully you know sign the contract be on the roster and begin playing or or coaching if it's a coach if they're overseas already does it matter or have you seen big differences between what countries they're at trying to come so for example does it matter if they're in the netherlands versus columbia versus india versus senegal it's going to depend on how long those consulates are taking to schedule those interviews usually for p visas are pretty quick i would say within five six seven eight days you can already schedule a an interview at the consulate because it's just for a it's a work

visa like what if you're talking about the p visa it it's just a work visa. So it's not a green card. It's nothing permanent. Those are fairly quickly to schedule. So most European countries, I would say three to five days. South American countries, I looked at an L visa the other day, which is another non-immigrant visa. It was about five days waiting time in Brazil. So it depends on the consulate. They're all a little bit different and unique in their own way. But it's fairly quickly.

It shouldn't take long and from your point of view is it normally teams players the agent that reaches out who sort of engages this process if a player is being let's say signed for a p visa to come to play in major league soccer mostly the teams the teams are usually taking care of that if they're because it's they have to be the petitioner. So for a P visa or an O visa, which is another visa similar to the P that sometimes we use for athletes. But most of the time we're looking at peace. But either way, the company team, they're they're usually the petitioner. So they're signing the forms. So we see it from the team side but sometimes you can have an agent um if if the age is in charge of that player's roles or contract whatever it may be they can actually

file an oak petition for that player themselves and not have to wait on a team to sign them one of the things i think i've seen from the outside i'm gonna make you speculate again here is it feels like some clubs are quicker to get green cards for their players than other clubs and i didn't know is that state by state that it's changes for them or is it something about their process that would be better it's uh immigration's federal law so everybody submits the applications to the same exact service centers nobody has priority over one another um i guess it would depend on the player's level and how quickly that team is getting the documentation ready.

Immigration is all documentation, right? How fast can you get the evidence put together, fill out the forms, and send it over to immigration? If you're paying that premium processing fee, which I think many teams do, it's like two grand, and you get an answer within 15 days. If they are high- level players and they have the recognition i don't see why teams will not want to do the premium processing so so long as

if you're paying the premium process it's 15 days for everybody so i guess if i had to speculate would be in the time frame that those teams legal counsel takes to put together that package that would be the the biggest difference i would say And one of the big things we see in soccer internationally is loans coming in and out. How does that affect the players' immigration status? What's the process of saying, we're going to send you to Denmark on loan for six months, then your contract's still back here?

It depends where the player's from. If they go, let's say, to Columbia International, they come here on a P visa. That P visa's just for the U.S. If he goes to Denmark to play for six months, whatever that may be he's gonna have to get a visa there in europe you can i mean we're not really not really specialized in immigration in europe but i know that you can be within any european eu country for 90 days with no visa usually they're there for longer so yes they're getting some type of P visa per se in that specific country.

But the P visa that we found here in the U.S. is just for the U.S. But does it cover when they come back or do you have to reapply after six months if they return? It's valid. The P visa is valid for three years and you can renew it. So if we file year one, he's loaned out to that team for about a year. It comes back. He still has that visa value. Okay. Is there anything people should sort of understand or consider about this process, especially as fans watching their team sort of sign players or misconceptions that you see out there a lot?

Yeah, I mean, the teams are pretty well aware of how – it's not a hard process, really. It's pretty straightforward. There's no limit. There's no cap on p and o visas so you can get as many as you need on green cards teams don't usually do that many i don't think i could be wrong here but usually they want to try out the player first or unless it's like a wayne rooney or a messy or ibrahimovic then for those guys i'm assuming they're going straight

for the green card for those guys um things that the fans should be looking out for? I mean, with any immigration process, it's nerve-wracking, right? For the player, they just want to come over. We know that the U.S. is the toughest country to get visa. Not the toughest, but, like, everyone wants to move here. So it's a harder process than, I would say, for other countries to get visa. So I guess that aspect of it with the player's morale and nervousness or like trying to bring the family over

and maybe sometimes the family can be stuck in. There's always that risk of a player going for an interview abroad and that consulate officer not approving them for some weird reason because the thing to remember with immigration is that every officer is a bit different. We're all filing for the same types of visas, but at the consulate, for example, you have all these these different officers you come up to a little window you do a five minute interview with them and that one officer might just not like you or maybe they'll just

maybe some of these players don't speak uh good english although the interviews are in their uh native language sometimes they're nervous they don't know what to say and they could mess up and potentially misrepresent something that's i guess a fear that fans can have of that player going through that but many times you're bringing that player over if they already have a tourist visa and you do a change of status here it varies a lot so i guess for the fans not much to worry about i mean it gets it's a pretty straightforward process straightforward process if the teams have good legal counsel that know what they're doing. I would just, I don't know, I guess if you can think from a human perspective, they're just nervous to get here with their families. I guess that's the only thing I can think of besides that. It's a pretty straightforward process.

And we've seen some players say, oh, my family can't get here, so I don't know that I want to stay. Exactly. So if that process opens up, then's that's usually the most issues are with that or with family like other issues they run into with girlfriends and ex-wives and things like that it's always the family right that they can try and kind of throw off the players focus in their team if a daughter can't come over or the spouse can't get the visa the beneficiary visa on time those things do come up sometimes and i guess that that's that's a something to plan for i guess if you're a fan of the team and you're expecting that one player to come over kind

of seeing what's going on with the family as well uh one more to ask you because i think this is a conversation that has come up a little more, obviously, 2026 World Cup around the corner, which is bringing players in that maybe could acquire U.S. citizenship and become a player for the U.S. on the women's, men's side, whatever it is. Does that affect the process at all of trying to get citizenship? Would it be sped up or changed in the U.S. if that player was a good player and the idea was idea was oh they could affect the national team at some point the citizenship is it's a pretty uh the rules are the rules you got you have to have your green card for five years if you're getting it through one of

the employment-based categories which most athletes are getting it through the EB1 category which is employment-based now if they marry a U.S. citizen and they're with that spouse for the the duration of the process they can get it within three years and i've seen some players get a green card through a marriage or something like that but if they're coming in through a team either through an eb1 eb1c or any other category through the employment based side they're going to have to wait the five years to become a citizen so five years from the date you receive your green card um then you can apply for a citizenship get it and then potentially play for the u.s so no fast tracking a number 10 just to fit them in the

depth pool i wish that's not how it works here we have seen it in other places for sure and it's worked for some and hasn't worked for others um but i really appreciate you taking the time to give your expertise i think it gives fans a lot of good background about what's going on around their teams right now, this time of year. And maybe we'll have you back on to talk refereeing or playing another time. Yeah, yeah, anytime, man. Pleasure to be here. Thank you for the time.

And if you ever need me to answer any questions for fans or anyone like that, pleasure to help. We'll see you next time.