During the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, Purdue center Zach Edey drew attention to yet another place where immigration law needs to be updated to fit with the realities of life in America in 2024.
Edey is Canadian and attends Purdue University on an F-1 visa. The F-1 dates back to 1952 and envisioned foreign nationals who entered the U.S. on it would be full-time students. It limits opportunities to get paid, and the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals that now allow college athletes to be paid fall outside of the limits of the F-1.
Edey is 7’4”, 300 pounds, and enough of a force to help Purdue make the national championship game, where it lost to University of Connecticut. The game ended his senior season, and he will enter the NBA draft—where he will undoubtedly be paid well—but other college players whose presence has been less impactful could accept NIL deals because they’re American.
As an immigration lawyer, I love the way Edey and his agent consulted with Purdue and its immigration lawyers to explore possibilities and make sure that any he pursued would not jeopardize his status. With money on the table, that took discipline and a long range vision, and we periodically have to work with clients who didn’t sequence those decisions correctly.
Fortunately, Edey’s situation has got the attention of lawmakers. According to Scooby Axson in USA Today, “In October, Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a bill to amend immigration laws to allow international athletes to have NIL deals in the United States. Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) also introduced a wider NIL bill in their respective chambers that includes a provision addressing the immigration laws.”
It’s unfortunate that it takes a star like Edey to motivate the House and Senate to address the ways our immigration laws don’t match up to the world we live in, but Edey has used his platform to help draw attention to a change that, if made, will come too late to benefit him. It’s also good to see politicians from both sides of the aisle respond to an immigration issue with anything other than torches and pitchforks. This change—if it happens—would help a very specific and very small subset of immigrants in America, but we’ll take all wins and hope that at some point we can get to a point where badly needed comprehensive immigration reform is possible.
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