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Ahead of the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup scheduled for North America, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on 18 December 2025 issued policy guidance to clarify who is a professional athlete.

The policy guidance (PDF, 309.13 KB) in Volume 6 of the USCIS Policy Manual addresses the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) adoption of the&nb

sp;Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system, and its effect on certain immigrant visa petitions filed on behalf of professional athletes.

This update continues USCIS goal of restoring integrity to the U.S. immigration system by ensuring USCIS adjudicators have all required information needed to make timely, informed decisions on aliens’ eligibility for immigration benefits.  

The new policy updates clarify immigration benefits for Professional Athletes, and may impact athletes coming from 48 countries to play the round leather game across 16 host cities in three countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States.

For Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, the petitioner must establish that the alien beneficiary and the job offered meet the requirements of the requested classification. Permanent labor certifications for professional athletes that were electronically filed with the DOL using its FLAG system on or after June 1, 2023, no longer contain the minimum job requirements for the offered position.

Accordingly, if the professional athlete’s contract does not contain this information, and the

petitioner does not otherwise provide the minimum requirements of the job with their Form I-140, USCIS may request additional evidence to determine whether the petition can be approved in the requested classification. While we receive fewer than 100 labor certifications filed on behalf of professional athletes each year, this update impacts all major U.S. professional sports teams and their minor league affiliates. 

Since June 1, 2023, DOL has required permanent labor certification applications to be filed using its FLAG system. The FLAG system contains a revised Form ETA-9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification, as well as four appendices and the Final Determination: Permanent Employment Certification Approval.

The new Form ETA-9089 no longer collects information about the minimum requirements of the job opportunity. Instead, aliens now provide that information to DOL using Form ETA-9141, Application for Prevailing Wage Determination. Because DOL regulations exempt professional athletes from the prevailing wage determination requirement, under the FLAG system, labor certification approvals for professional athletes do not contain the minimum requirements for the job. USCIS requires this information to adjudicate labor certification-based immigrant petitions. 

An overview of the DOL FLAG system and a description of the new labor certification-related documentation that must be submitted with Form I-140 are also included in the policy manual update.

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Tags: FIFA World Cip, Soccer, USCIS