ABSTRACT
As the global esports market continues to grow, foreign professional gamers from around the world are attempting to come to the United States to participate in tournaments and organized leagues hosted within the country. There are also coaches and other team gameplay analysts who require visas to coach and to earn an income from an esports organization. Specifically, most professional gamers have not achieved enough individual fame to justify the issuing of this type of work authorization. Overall, obtaining a proper and timely work authorization is essential to being able to compete in an esports competition in the United States. Since many esports organizations and teams as well as some game developers are all located in California, including Riot Games, Activision-Blizzard, and Ubisoft, it is important to understand the unique employment laws applicable to workers in that state. In contrast, in addition to the team owners and the players, esports has an additional interested stakeholder, the game developer.
