Celebrity K-1's

[valerie3956 10]

Maybe not quite the "celebrities" you were thinking of, but professional hockey routinely deals with some real headaches

The majority of NHL players are Canadian-born. There are also Americans, various European nationalities and a pretty big Russian contingent (and ONE Australian! Our first one!) but 23 of the teams are located in the US and 7 in Canada (and all of the teams play each other all the time, it's not like the Canadian teams only play Canadian teams). Now, they all pretty much get O visas as far as I can tell (which lets them bring their families---maybe not girlfriends, which is maybe why hockey players get married so young, now that I think about it, but families). But everyone (except the Canadians) needs Canadian visas to travel to to be able to play in Canada as well. This can get really tricky with the timing and every now and again someone falls through the cracks and gets stuck on a tarmac in Calgary or somesuch (one of our guys was actually stuck in Sochi returning from the Olympics--visa issues-- and we had to play a game or two without him). Personally, I just don't envy their tax accountants. Can you imagine?!

And funny-not-funny story: My own pride and joy of a team, the Washington Capitals, had a sad sad fate befall them in 2010. It was quarterfinals playoffs with Montreal (best out of 7... 2 home, 2 away, 1 home, 1 away, 1 home). They were coming back from Montreal having gone up 3-1 in the series. Got diverted from Dulles to National for fog. But National isn't an international airport---no customs---so then got diverted to BWI where, at that time of night (1am) there were no CPB folks, as the last scheduled flight had already been processed. They had to wait on the tarmac for 3 hours while they got CBP staff in. Then, all the guys' cars were at Dulles (a good 70 miles away). So that was a huge mess. A lot of guys didn't get home until 5am---and had to play the next day.

While it's surely not *just* a visa thing (this team is well known to implode), after that night they became the first No.1 seed to give up a 3-1 lead to an 8-seed in NHL history. Pitiful, really.

Your post made me smile a little bit, I remember that playoff year, and as a Habs fan, you just made me hate immigration a little bit less!

[Pennycat 880]

Your post made me smile a little bit, I remember that playoff year, and as a Habs fan, you just made me hate immigration a little bit less!

Haha, thanks We still can't blame it squarely on immigration. Our boys are really, really good at self destructing without any outside help, thank you very much . We do love them so. We are, once again, cautiously optimistic about our chances this year. Cautiously. As usual. So we shall see.

And also re: the tax accountants. Not only do they have to pay taxes in whichever country the game was played in (YEP), but some individual states levy taxes on income generated in-state...meaning, they have to break down a per-game salary and figure out who played where and file the forms. Now remember the league is in two countries. And that a lot of the players are neither Canadian nor American and may owe taxes in their home countries. Now add in luxury taxes and bonuses and all that. Nightmare!

[ExPatty 502]

If you're rich enough you can basically buy a green card. Donate it to something, I think the minimum is $500k. You still go through some process for it and it's not called buying a green card, but for all intents and purposes that's what it is.

Edited March 20, 2015 by ExPatty

[shippingforecast 126]

Maybe not quite the "celebrities" you were thinking of, but professional hockey routinely deals with some real headaches

The majority of NHL players are Canadian-born. There are also Americans, various European nationalities and a pretty big Russian contingent (and ONE Australian! Our first one!) but 23 of the teams are located in the US and 7 in Canada (and all of the teams play each other all the time, it's not like the Canadian teams only play Canadian teams). Now, they all pretty much get O visas as far as I can tell (which lets them bring their families---maybe not girlfriends, which is maybe why hockey players get married so young, now that I think about it, but families). But everyone (except the Canadians) needs Canadian visas to travel to to be able to play in Canada as well. This can get really tricky with the timing and every now and again someone falls through the cracks and gets stuck on a tarmac in Calgary or somesuch (one of our guys was actually stuck in Sochi returning from the Olympics--visa issues-- and we had to play a game or two without him). Personally, I just don't envy their tax accountants. Can you imagine?!

And funny-not-funny story: My own pride and joy of a team, the Washington Capitals, had a sad sad fate befall them in 2010. It was quarterfinals playoffs with Montreal (best out of 7... 2 home, 2 away, 1 home, 1 away, 1 home). They were coming back from Montreal having gone up 3-1 in the series. Got diverted from Dulles to National for fog. But National isn't an international airport---no customs---so then got diverted to BWI where, at that time of night (1am) there were no CPB folks, as the last scheduled flight had already been processed. They had to wait on the tarmac for 3 hours while they got CBP staff in. Then, all the guys' cars were at Dulles (a good 70 miles away). So that was a huge mess. A lot of guys didn't get home until 5am---and had to play the next day.

While it's surely not *just* a visa thing (this team is well known to implode), after that night they became the first No.1 seed to give up a 3-1 lead to an 8-seed in NHL history. Pitiful, really.

Off-topic, but I'm so glad they beat the Wild yesterday.

[Darnell 8,478]

it makes me think - how did Ming Bai get into the country, legally? K-1 ? something else? the mind boggles.

[raven52 233]

Really put me thinking.

I would say the "elite" of this country, do not even know what a K-1 visa is...,.,.and certainly nothing close to an I-130 money, and political connections, say it all about this country!

[Lauren and Kevin 55]

Love this thread

We should have no illusions here, we're going to America, the land of the free for a better life, and it's a land of opportunity where the dollar is king!

For ourselves if we could pay a few extra thousand to USCIS to hurry it along, sure we would, we Have absolutely no issues at all with the rich and super rich buying their way into the States and citizenship, we equate poverty with hardship, and wealth with prosperity...

We can't afford it, so we wait - that's our situation, and we feel only admiration for the system showing what we all know in real life, that money smooths life's bumps...

Edited March 21, 2015 by Lauren and Kevin

[Ryan H 3,790]

Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to General Immigration-Related Discussion.

[Starletha 11]

I don't think really wealthy people worry about this process at all. They have it taken care of. How else would all these super rich people be able to move so freely across the globe? Getting married here and there and living anywhere they like.

Must be nice but it's not my life.

[Cody and Daisy 373]

yeaaaaah this is what they have.

http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/o-1-individuals-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement/o-1-visa-individuals-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement

The 0-1 visa, a visa for those with extraordinary ability of achievement which is better than a green card as they can come and go as they please.

[Starletha 11]

Does anyone else find the Religious Visa offensive?

I do, I am an atheist and I cannot apply for that Visa to travel around the US preaching Atheism to the masses.