On September 10 2014 08:49 BreAKerTV wrote:The part about the Koreans in Taiwan is B.S.
Allow me to explain: a lot of Koreans in Taiwan are capable of applying for visitor visas to compete in the TeSL circuit, but they are not capable of applying for resident visas to compete in the TeSL circuit. What is the difference?
In 2014, if a non-Taiwanese player wanted to compete in the WCS 2014 Taiwan / Hong Kong / Macao qualifiers, they would have to have a resident visa. And before anyone says anything about Sase, I must tell you all he was living a visa-free existence in Taiwan by leaving this country once every 90 days.
http://sc2.egamers.tw/907CTRL+F. Search the words, "DETERMINING RESIDENCY"
The players who are not a citizen of Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau must send a scanned copy of their Residency Visa to tw-tournaments@blizzard.com for an evaluation of the residency status.
Unfortunately, the government of Taiwan does not recognize any form of eSports as legitimate enough to grant resident visas.
Blizzard Taiwan explicitly stated that if a player wanted to compete in WCS Taiwan / Hong Kong / Macao qualifiers, the said player would have to have a resident visa to be eligible. So, I am an English teacher in Taiwan and I now hold a resident visa. That means I can enter the WCS America: Taiwan / Macao / Hong Kong qualifiers when they happen for next year.
And find no recourse in China either. I have asked Netease if it would be possible for even a Canadian-born Chinese player with Chinese Permanent Residence (aka equivalent to Chinese green card) to compete in that region, and they said no. Bottom line? Citizenship requirement for mainland China, and Legitimate Raison d'etre in Taiwan.
EPT
