Athletes, Coaches & Artists

How we help our clients:

U.S. Immigration has two main categories: permanent residence visas (also called “immigrant visas” or “green cards”) and temporary residence visas (also called “nonimmigrant visas”).

For athletes, coaches and artists, the EB-1 category for aliens with extraordinary ability and the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for workers who are sponsored by an employer are categories most often used to qualify for a green card.  For the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, the employer usually must first complete a process called PERM Labor Certification in which the employer proves that it cannot find a qualified and available U.S. worker to perform the job that it would like to offer to the foreign-born worker.

The most common temporary visas for athletes, coaches and artists are as follows:

Other P Visas:

Q-1 Visas for Participants in International Cultural Exchange Programs.  This is a work visa valid for up to 15 months. The foreign-born worker must participate in a program that has a cultural component which is an essential and integral part of the participant’s employment or training.  The program must be designed, on the whole, to exhibit or explain the attitude, customs, history, heritage, philosophy, traditions, and/or other cultural attributes (arts, literature, language) of the foreign worker’s country of nationality. 

Jaensch Immigration Law Firm is experienced in all of these green card and temporary visas.