According to the US government, video gamers from other countries can now qualify for a visas as "professional athletes."
Riot Games, creators of the League Of Legends video game have successfully lobbied US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Homeland Security Department agency that handles visa applications, to give pro-gamers the new status for access to their gaming events.
Now foreign gamers will be allowed into the country to compete with temporary visas. With $8 million in prizes handed out thus far in League Of Legends play this year and another million to the season winner the US government decided that the championships series had reached a level of competition that warranted the same legal considerations that are applied to other sports like the NBA or Major League Soccer.
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[Via Minyanville]
