eye said:
Thanks for the explanation but AHL and ECHL players already have working visas do they not?. I take back by last accusation on another thread and apologize for my comment on your background. Where do you find the time to post all the information that you do?
The work visas are different for minor pro and the NHL.
You need a work permit to play for a particular team. They are not generic. Also the visas issued to NHL players are a non-quota visa (i.e unlimited numbers) under the P-1 visa category.
For any athletic team to petition for a foreign athlete for a P-1 visa, the team must have achieved international recognition in the sport. US immigration authorities have defined “international recognition†as a “having a high level of achievement in a field evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered, to the extent that such achievement is renowned, leading, or well-known in more than one country.†This applies to the NHL. It does not apply to the minor leagues.
P-1 visa applicants need to obtain an advisory opinion from a "peer group," labor organization, or management organization in the area of the alien's ability. This can be avoided if the petitioner is requesting expeditious handling of the O or P petition, an appropriate entity does not exist or a consultation has taken place within the two previous years. In the case of the NHL this advisory opinion is on file.
The team must file a petiton on behalf of the specific player. It is a very quick process for the most part at the NHL level. Athletic teams receive an initial approval period for the time needed to complete the competition, not to exceed one year. An unlimited number of one-year extensions can be granted to athletic teams.
Because the NHL is internationally recognized as the premeir professional hockey league in the world and the US INS has all the necessary documentation filed previously to back that up, all that is usually required is the completed petition and the executed player contract with the team with reference to the already filed materials on international recognition.
In the minor leagues a quota visa known as an H2-B visa is used. When the quota is used up (66,000 per year are granted in a number of industries) - as has happened this year in the ECHL - no more visas.
Under US immigration law work permits cannot be issued at all during a labour dispute and those previously issued are revoked. This is what occurred during the ECHL labour dispute.
Here is Alan Panzeris of the Ottawa Citizen newpaper on this point:
It is called, by the union for minor-league hockey players, which used it two years ago, the "immigration" card.
It is also one the National Hockey League Players' Association would likely play if the NHL tried to restart with replacement players.
Of all the legal hoops the NHL would have to jump through before it could get its impasse -- the first step in unilaterally setting its own terms and restarting with replacement players -- the ones it probably won't get through are immigration laws in Canada and the United States.
Neither country will issue work visas to workers who are coming to take the jobs of those on strike or involved in labour disputes, and that includes hockey players.
...(T)he border was effectively shut [during the ECHL labour dispute]. The U.S. would not issue work visas to those hoping to come in as replacement workers, would not extend visas and would rescind visas that had already been issued.
That is a huge stumbling block for stocking the US teams.
That also means any Canadians playing minor league hockey in the US could not play for US based NHL teams as replacement players.