Unionizing College Athletes: Foreign Student Visas Could Be Threatened

Despite the end of this year’s NCAA basketball championships, roughly 24,000 student athletes across all college sports are still at risk of elimination. Not from anybody’s March Madness bracket but from the very country where they chose to pursue their scholastic and athletic endeavors.

Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in favor of categorizing Dartmouth’s basketball players as “employees” under federal law, making them eligible for union representation. While heralded as a victory by some, this development jeopardizes the legal status of any foreign student on Dartmouth’s team. “I hope they have retained excellent immigration counsel, because their student visas are now at risk,” immigration lawyer Ksenia Maiorova quipped.

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Sam Peak

Sam Peak is a senior policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity.

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Despite the end of this year’s NCAA basketball championships, roughly 24,000 student athletes across all college sports are still at risk of elimination. Not from anybody’s March Madness bracket but from the very country where they chose to pursue their scholastic and athletic endeavors.

Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in favor of categorizing Dartmouth’s basketball players as “employees” under federal law, making them eligible for union representation. While heralded as a victory by some, this development jeopardizes the legal status of any foreign student on Dartmouth’s team. “I hope they have retained excellent immigration counsel, because their student visas are now at risk,” immigration lawyer Ksenia Maiorova quipped.