Major League Baseball began the 2017 season with a record 29.8 percent of their players being born outside of the United States. The National Basketball Association has a similar profile, with 25.2 percent of their players being born somewhere other than the United States. Hockey and American Football are dramatically different; just slightly over 3 percent of the National Football League is composed of international players, while a whopping 72.9 percent of the National Hockey League players were not born in the United States. Most likely all those professional athletes are living and working in the United States by having an “O” visa.
“O” visas can be obtained by persons with extraordinary ability or achievement in the sciences, arts, education, business, athletics, or extraordinary recognized achievements in the motion picture and television fields, as demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim, to work in their field of expertise. “O” visas can also be issued to persons providing essential services in support of the person with extraordinary ability, as well as the “O” visa holder’s family.
The “O” visa can be issued for a period of up to three years. There were 28,171 such visas issued in 2016; to the person with extraordinary ability (O-1), their assistants (O-2), and their family (O-3).
