Stamping passports for sporting stars?

May 7, 2006 10:37 PM

Say you're a professional golfer/tennis player/racing driver on the international circuit. This presumably means you're going to need a lot of visas and work permits. While you're likely to get waved through on a 'outstanding ability' class, how do the logistics work? Does Michael Schumacher get to skip interviews at consulates? What about support staff: coaches, caddies, technical crew, etc?
posted by holgate to work & money (7 comments total)

They probably get paid in their home country (Monaco) and use ordinary business travel visas. Professional athletes have one job all year long, they just do it in lots of different places.
posted by b1tr0t at 10:43 PM on May 7, 2006

Second the business travel visa - no need for a work permit if you're going to be in a country for just a few days.

In terms of embassys, here is my own experience: I live in London, work in banking, and I'm on the road about 60% of the time. I travel on a US Passport and there are no shortage of companies that will do all the leg work at the embassy to get a visa. Fill out of form, a courier picks up your passport and paperwork, and that's it. Sometimes you have to pay extra for overnight processing, but I've been to 26 countries on business and never once had to visit an embassy.

On a practical note, we generally try to get multiple entry business visas for every country we visit, on the assumption (usually correct) that there will be additional trips. Usually these visas are good for a year, and extension is a formality.

Every country has their own procedures though: for Nigeria I couldn't get a multiple entry visa until I'd been there twice on business, and some of the Middle Eastern countries won't consider giving Americans multiple entry visas. At all.
posted by Mutant at 11:04 PM on May 7, 2006

Canada waives the visa requirement for professional athletes, teams and coaches.
posted by acoutu at 11:22 PM on May 7, 2006

I used to work for a company that had a professional team. We had a company that did all of our visa applications for us, as well as for support staff.
posted by k8t at 11:57 PM on May 7, 2006

There's a service industry sector that supports just this sort of problem. Amex, for example, will use their staff to do the legwork from their offices so the busy professional doesn't have to (or at least they used to in London when I was a bike messenger - many of my jobs were moving bits of paper around between swanky offices, embassies and Amex). Chances are any courier you see on a bike around the embassy district in Kensington is on their way to or from some office in the City with a visa on-board. There are companies that specialize in doing just this sort of work - for a (substantial) fee - time is money.
posted by normy at 12:12 AM on May 8, 2006

Seconding the visa services solution; time is money and if you have a lot of money then you can save a lot of time having someone just get it done for you.

Tangentially, Saudi Arabia has the most interesting / demanding visa process that I've ever seen. And what ends up in your passport as a result is pretty cool too. Generally the most interesting ( / disturbing) travel destination I've ever been to ...
posted by intermod at 4:26 AM on May 8, 2006

I am a motorsports photographer who travels internationally for several race series. I've never had any troubles because:

- I either have a team for whom I shoot or the series do my paperwork for me.

- I travel on a charter so I show up at immigration with several hundred other people all traveling for the same reason.

- I have US citizenship with my passport in order, no criminal record and no visa problems.

We always get travel visas clearly listing the race as our sole reason for entering the country, and listing the number of days we plan to be there. With that, immigration has always been:

Them: "So you're here for the race?"
Me: "Yes."
Them: "Welcome, and have fun."

My camera equipment are work tools, and I always carry a magazine or two with my photos and photo credits in case I have to prove anything, along with my series hard card photo ID listing my media/photographer status.

It has become easier to get through international immigration than it is to get through domestic TSA...
posted by seymour.skinner at 8:08 AM on May 8, 2006