Visa Issues May Cause LFY to Quit The International 7

Over the last couple of years, many teams encountered the problems with their visas. In the huge majority of those cases; they were prevented from entering the United States of America. With The International 7 starting in 17 days, teams have already started to acquire visas for the United States and on so many occasions before, some players were denied the entry to the United States.

The latest case of visas being denied comes from LFY . They announced that two of their players He ‘Inflame’ Youngzheng and Du ‘Monet’ Peng have been denied their visas for the United States. A couple of weeks ago, LFY secured their spot in The International 7. Back then everything looked great for all players as their dream would come true. However, happiness did not last long for these two players who are facing huge problems.

Inflame and the Visa Issues

For some, this would not be a huge problem considering that visa application is a serious problem. All players need to respect the laws of the country. However, Inflame seems to be a special position when it comes to this issue. Not that long ago, he acquired the visa for the United States. However somewhere along the way, he lost his passport and had to apply for replacement visa for his new passport.

Even though, the process of transferring visa from one to another passport is a relatively simple process it turned out not to be true in the case of Inflame. In the end, he was denied the visa even though he already had the valid visa. Several months ago, Inflame missed the Boston Major for the because of the same problem. However, after Boston Major, LGD made sure that he gets long term visa in order to avoid this kind of problem in the future.

Possible Solutions

LGD organization, a parent team to FLY, has already announced that they are making a second attempt to get the visa for these two players. However, with 17 days to go before the start of the tournament, we cannot but to wonder what will happen if those two players get denied the entry visa.

In that case, the most radical move would be for LFY to withdraw from the tournament altogether. However, at this moment that does not seem like a realistic option. In case that Inflame and Monet fail to acquire visas, LFY has substitute players who could step in and replace them in The International 7. The team is refusing to talk about the potential replacements. It seems like they are confident. They think that this situation will be resolved very quickly and in their favor.

The United States have made participation in tournaments in the United States very hard. This affects many players from different parts of the world. With the new immigration regulations, the conditions for acquiring visa have been re-enforced. This is due to the executive orders by the president. For sure, this will not be the last case that the world of eSports has been affected by the politics and the people who are in charge of regulations.