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On May 23 2013 23:43 StreetWise wrote: I see that I am in the minority when I feel that this is not really a bad thing. I know that no one likes to see Americans play, but I am not sad to see one less Korean, even though I like Violet. He should have competed in Korea. WCS should be like the World Cup. No one complains that the CONCACAF is generally weak.
I think plenty of people who think that WCS ought to be region locked (including myself) can see that this is a bad thing. I think that region lock is important but that doesn't mean that I'm blind to the fact that Violet has obviously invested a lot in the tournament and now doesn't get a fair shot at the championship. I think its pretty callous to endorse this kind of thing out of wanting to see "one less korean"
Also @ starstruck, I don;t really think this is the place to debate whether or not WCS ought to be region locked. The uproar here is that a player had to give up his spot in a tournament because he wasn't legally allowed into the country, which sucks.
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I don't know about US visa requirements, but Brazil has a special visa for temporary stay where you cannot work, but are allowed an income. This is especially for such things as sports tournaments, scientific visits (why I have this visa) and basically any other short or long-term stay that might net you an income, without it being a salary.
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Does State get his spot or just a 3 person group?
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On May 24 2013 04:23 hitpoint wrote: Does State get his spot or just a 3 person group? Just a 3 man group now. TvTvT
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On May 24 2013 04:02 packrat386 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 23 2013 23:43 StreetWise wrote: I see that I am in the minority when I feel that this is not really a bad thing. I know that no one likes to see Americans play, but I am not sad to see one less Korean, even though I like Violet. He should have competed in Korea. WCS should be like the World Cup. No one complains that the CONCACAF is generally weak. I think plenty of people who think that WCS ought to be region locked (including myself) can see that this is a bad thing. I think that region lock is important but that doesn't mean that I'm blind to the fact that Violet has obviously invested a lot in the tournament and now doesn't get a fair shot at the championship. I think its pretty callous to endorse this kind of thing out of wanting to see "one less korean" Also @ starstruck, I don;t really think this is the place to debate whether or not WCS ought to be region locked. The uproar here is that a player had to give up his spot in a tournament because he wasn't legally allowed into the country, which sucks.
Then why are your combats keep bringing it up. The way I see it is three qualifiers. The namesake means nothing. Treat it like another MLG LAN tournament where the points add up to something like that of the MLG Championship in Providence and what do you know. There should be no beef. The name is misleading because there is no regions. Visas are normally a problem and in this case is substantial because of Violet's history here and they wanted to make everything proper, which unfortunately backfired.
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Sucks so much because Violet is my favorite player. I wonder if the issue popped up after the Boston bombings. Which if they did crack down because of that it sucks because he is Korean not Muslim, not to mention he lived here for so long
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On May 24 2013 06:30 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On May 24 2013 04:02 packrat386 wrote:On May 23 2013 23:43 StreetWise wrote: I see that I am in the minority when I feel that this is not really a bad thing. I know that no one likes to see Americans play, but I am not sad to see one less Korean, even though I like Violet. He should have competed in Korea. WCS should be like the World Cup. No one complains that the CONCACAF is generally weak. I think plenty of people who think that WCS ought to be region locked (including myself) can see that this is a bad thing. I think that region lock is important but that doesn't mean that I'm blind to the fact that Violet has obviously invested a lot in the tournament and now doesn't get a fair shot at the championship. I think its pretty callous to endorse this kind of thing out of wanting to see "one less korean" Also @ starstruck, I don;t really think this is the place to debate whether or not WCS ought to be region locked. The uproar here is that a player had to give up his spot in a tournament because he wasn't legally allowed into the country, which sucks. Then why are your combats keep bringing it up. The way I see it is three qualifiers. The namesake means nothing. Treat it like another MLG LAN tournament where the points add up to something like that of the MLG Championship in Providence and what do you know. There should be no beef. The name is misleading because there is no regions. Visas are normally a problem and in this case is substantial because of Violet's history here and they wanted to make everything proper, which unfortunately backfired.
People keep bringing it up since it seems like the 11th TL commandment is that each thread must go off topic at least once. The beef is mostly with the US visa system at the moment because it means that violet can't participate in a tournament that he had a fair slot in. Whether or not WCS should be region locked is another issue entirely (Which has been discussed to death in various other threads by now).
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On May 23 2013 18:56 csn_andrew wrote: I posted this on reddit but I will post it here as well to shed some light on the matter.
"First I want to make clear viOLet and myself take full responsibility for not being able to obtain the VISA. However, I will let you know that I have done more research on this subject the past 3 months and we even hired an immigration specialist to assist him after he was denied the first time around back in January.
Also fishing for sympathy? I think you will see once viOLet tweets his statement that you will bite your tongue regarding that remark. He takes full responsibility for this and is very sorry for the effect it will have on WCS, MLG, and his fans.
(directed at someone on reddit)
viOLet was extremely well prepared for his interview and had all the necessary paperwork in order. What it comes down to is that Embassy Officials have an immense amount of power and can basically do what ever they please with no recourse to be taken against them. The process of getting any VISA whether it be a B1/F1/or O1 is not crystal clear. If you go and read VISA experiences on various travel websites you will see that there is no clear defined you need X,Y, and Z and your guaranteed to receive the VISA. There is some mandatory paperwork, and protocols/measures you can take which we prepared amply for but at the end of the day in extreme cases like viOLet's it can hurt your chances regardless.
Also, as I stated above, because viOLet spent more time in the U.S. in 2012 than he did in Korea, that flags him in the system and makes it even more difficult. Also you mention that he was the only Korean not able to come, let me shed some light on this.
For the past 2-3 years all the Koreans have been coming over to the U.S. on ESTA VISA waivers which technically isn't even the correct VISA to be competing for prize money. If customs were aware of this upon their entry it is likely they would get denied access to the U.S.
viOLet's situation is an extreme case because of how much time he has spent in the U.S. previously. The other Koreans come in for the weekend and go back on the Monday after, not creating any red flags with immigration. So before you blame viOLet for dropping the ball, that was in fact not the case at all.
Shit happens, sometimes out of our control."
viOLet's Statement: "First I want to apologize to Blizzard,MLG, but most of all my fans. You know I have match tomorrow for Ro16 in MLG studio, but I can't go because of VISA troubles. I’m so sad my mental is broken… I’m really stuck, make me feel sick that I can’t compete. I trying to my best for other way it just take a little time, I do really apologize again very very sorry to Blizzard, MLG, and my fans.. So sad it is all my fault, I really appreciate that Blizzard and MLG trying to help. I wish the WCS and MLG will be success ending this season!!! Sorry once again."
This needs to be in the OP.
Let this be a lesson to the rest: Don't live in the US for 9 months without a VISA, even if it's possible at the time through the ESTA waiver program. It will come back and bite you in the ass. I really hope violet will get his VISA situation worked out.
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On May 23 2013 23:43 StreetWise wrote: I see that I am in the minority when I feel that this is not really a bad thing. I know that no one likes to see Americans play, but I am not sad to see one less Korean, even though I like Violet. He should have competed in Korea. WCS should be like the World Cup. No one complains that the CONCACAF is generally weak. Not if you have the current system. If you take what we have and just region lock it it would be the soccer equivalent of Europe being screwed over massively despite having the largest concentration of strong soccer nations. By all means make it a world cup format but the WCS is not even close with or without region locking.
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So before you blame viOLet for dropping the ball, that was in fact not the case at all.
Shit happens, sometimes out of our control.
The only thing that I would say in response to this is pretty simple. Shit didn't happen out of your control, that's the wrong way to look at it going forward.
What did happen is someone who should of kept up with his visa stuff didn't, and now he's out of WCS because of it. This is an absolute failure by his management and team to make sure his stuff stays squared away. It says right on the website for ESTA waivers that your travel is 90 days or less, this isn't rocket science.
He was more or less working illegally in the US for months, he got flagged for it, now he is probably going to have a hard time getting a visa. Hopefully for him, the people who are managing hims screw up doesn't hurt him to much past this event. The moment he was going to stay longer then 90 days this should of been taken care of and clearly wasn't.
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On May 25 2013 01:14 Nerski wrote:Show nested quote + So before you blame viOLet for dropping the ball, that was in fact not the case at all.
Shit happens, sometimes out of our control. The only thing that I would say in response to this is pretty simple. Shit didn't happen out of your control, that's the wrong way to look at it going forward. What did happen is someone who should of kept up with his visa stuff didn't, and now he's out of WCS because of it. This is an absolute failure by his management and team to make sure his stuff stays squared away. It says right on the website for ESTA waivers that your travel is 90 days or less, this isn't rocket science. He was more or less working illegally in the US for months, he got flagged for it, now he is probably going to have a hard time getting a visa. Hopefully for him, the people who are managing hims screw up doesn't hurt him to much past this event. The moment he was going to stay longer then 90 days this should of been taken care of and clearly wasn't. That might not quite have been the problem, actually. The ESTA stuff allows you to stay in the US for up to 90 days. But you absolutely could fly home after 90 days, stay for a week, and then return for another 90 days. I don't know if that's what violet did, but even if he did do that, and he strictly speaking didn't break any rules that way, he would still be flagged once it becomes obvious that he stayed longer in the US than he did in his home country.
Basically, the US doesn't like it when you're officially a tourist and still spend the majority of your time in the US, even if you're doing it strictly within the rules.
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On May 25 2013 01:22 Conti wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2013 01:14 Nerski wrote: So before you blame viOLet for dropping the ball, that was in fact not the case at all.
Shit happens, sometimes out of our control. The only thing that I would say in response to this is pretty simple. Shit didn't happen out of your control, that's the wrong way to look at it going forward. What did happen is someone who should of kept up with his visa stuff didn't, and now he's out of WCS because of it. This is an absolute failure by his management and team to make sure his stuff stays squared away. It says right on the website for ESTA waivers that your travel is 90 days or less, this isn't rocket science. He was more or less working illegally in the US for months, he got flagged for it, now he is probably going to have a hard time getting a visa. Hopefully for him, the people who are managing hims screw up doesn't hurt him to much past this event. The moment he was going to stay longer then 90 days this should of been taken care of and clearly wasn't. That might not quite have been the problem, actually. The ESTA stuff allows you to stay in the US for up to 90 days. But you absolutely could fly home after 90 days, stay for a week, and then return for another 90 days. I don't know if that's what violet did, but even if he did do that, and he strictly speaking didn't break any rules that way, he would still be flagged once it becomes obvious that he stayed longer in the US than he did in his home country. Basically, the US doesn't like it when you're officially a tourist and still spend the majority of your time in the US, even if you're doing it strictly within the rules.
There's also the issue, which other people mentioned earlier in this thread, of whether he paid taxes on his income while in the US. That might have been another reason for refusal.
Quite frankly, I don't think we'll see viOLet back in the US for a while. Just look at how long it took TB to sort his visa stuff out.
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On May 25 2013 08:15 Serek wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2013 01:22 Conti wrote:On May 25 2013 01:14 Nerski wrote: So before you blame viOLet for dropping the ball, that was in fact not the case at all.
Shit happens, sometimes out of our control. The only thing that I would say in response to this is pretty simple. Shit didn't happen out of your control, that's the wrong way to look at it going forward. What did happen is someone who should of kept up with his visa stuff didn't, and now he's out of WCS because of it. This is an absolute failure by his management and team to make sure his stuff stays squared away. It says right on the website for ESTA waivers that your travel is 90 days or less, this isn't rocket science. He was more or less working illegally in the US for months, he got flagged for it, now he is probably going to have a hard time getting a visa. Hopefully for him, the people who are managing hims screw up doesn't hurt him to much past this event. The moment he was going to stay longer then 90 days this should of been taken care of and clearly wasn't. That might not quite have been the problem, actually. The ESTA stuff allows you to stay in the US for up to 90 days. But you absolutely could fly home after 90 days, stay for a week, and then return for another 90 days. I don't know if that's what violet did, but even if he did do that, and he strictly speaking didn't break any rules that way, he would still be flagged once it becomes obvious that he stayed longer in the US than he did in his home country. Basically, the US doesn't like it when you're officially a tourist and still spend the majority of your time in the US, even if you're doing it strictly within the rules. There's also the issue, which other people mentioned earlier in this thread, of whether he paid taxes on his income while in the US. That might have been another reason for refusal. Quite frankly, I don't think we'll see viOLet back in the US for a while. Just look at how long it took TB to sort his visa stuff out. Well, if you're in the US under the ESTA program, you're most definitely not allowed to work, or earn money. Of course it's not at all clear whether playing a tournament and winning money counts as "work".. But as has been said previously, practically all foreigners go to the US and play tournaments under the ESTA program, so this is not something only violet would be at fault doing..
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