Top Apex Legends team rejected by US immigration despite EA official vouch

A professional Apex Legends esports team has been denied entry by the United States immigration office despite the team providing a requested Electronic Arts representative to vouch for their credibility.

Moist Esports, an esports organization founded by YouTuber and streamer Charles White, also known as MoistCr1TiKaL, has been denied entry to the United States ahead of an Apex Legends tournament. White took to his personal YouTube channel to outline the back and forth his organization has had to endure with the US immigration office, with the YouTuber stating his organization is trying to get members of the Moist Esports Apex Legends team from Australia to the United States.

White says the organization has provided all of the requested information, involved lawyers specializing in immigration issues, and has still been rejected. More specifically, White says the immigration agent dealing with his case doesn't believe the esports team's rankings are real, despite Moist Esports submitting official standings/rankings to the immigration office.

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Another main gripe White has is the immigration office requesting Moist Esports have a "high ranking EA official" represent the team and essentially vouch for their credibility. White's organization achieved this request and had an EA official talk on the team's behalf, but the US immigration office didn't believe the representative was a real EA official.

"You may submit evidence from an official from the sports governing body describing how the athlete or team is internationally recognized. The evidence you submitted was insufficient. You submitted testimonial [redacted] about the beneficiaries [redacted] is a senior manager at Electronic Arts (EA), but USCIS cannot determine that his position is considered an official of a governing body in esports.

Additionally, he mentioned that the beneficiaries have had high placements in several competitions in ALGS year 3 season. However, USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] cannot determine how the placements constitute as international reputation.

As previously discussed ALGS does not appear to require that athletes or teams with international representation to participate in competitions. As such, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that having such placements in ALGS competitions equate to international reputation. You may still submit evidence to satisfy this criterion," wrote the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to Moist Esports