Several key figures were missing from the first day of the Colorado Rapids’ preseason last week while waiting for U.S. work authorization to be approved.
Matt Wells, the club’s new head coach, landed in Palm Beach, Florida, last Thursday evening after three days and six training sessions of camp had come and gone. A week after Wells’ arrival, his two new assistants from England, Alastair Harris and Rob Burch, still cannot join the team until they receive their P-1 visas. The same is true for new signing Hamzat Ojediran, whose reported $3 million price tag promises an important role as a defensive midfielder. 2025 MLS SuperDraft pick Donavan Phillip joined the team last Saturday, almost a week late.
A P-1 visa, a temporary work authorization for internationally recognized athletes and entertainers, is required for most international signings in Major League Soccer. While the process has long been a part of the day-to-day for clubs around the league, recent rule changes, seasonal timing and government backlogs have made longer wait times the norm.
Once a player or coach signs a contract, the club’s immigration work begins immediately. James Roeling, the Rapids’ assistant director of player personnel, works with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment attorneys to file a petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Standard wait times for decisions on petitions can stretch to a year or longer, so the club expedites every case to “the highest degree possible that the government allows,” Roeling told The Denver Post. In addition to a number of base fees, a premium fee of $2,805 — set to increase to $2,965 in March — guarantees a USCIS decision within 15 business days.
Even with premium processing, Roeling said cases now more frequently take that full length of time, whereas just a few years ago, it took closer to five business days. In Wells’ case, multiple holidays slowed the process further.
As part of the 15-business-day adjudication process, the USCIS requires evidence of international recognition. Zachary New, an immigration attorney and Partner at Aurora-based Joseph & Hall P.C., told The Post the acceptance of that evidence can sometimes get muddy.
“For a P-1, you have to show that you’ve got this international recognition, so what does that mean? It can change from one (officer) to another,” New said. “You get officer A who says, ‘Obviously this is international recognition,’ or officer B who says, ‘I don’t see international recognition with this evidence.’ It’s got that kind of lack of predictability to it at this time.”
Personnel and staffing at the USCIS have played a role in the past year as well, New said. That includes what he described as a “mass exodus” of USCIS employees during that time, meaning “institutional knowledge and long-term talent” is being replaced with new employees who “just don’t have that same level of skill and training.”
After the adjudication process concludes, a petition’s approval only starts the next clock. From there, the coach or player must apply for the visa through a U.S. embassy in their home country, then attend an interview at the embassy. According to Roeling, wait times and procedures can vary widely for multiple reasons by country and an individual’s circumstances. How far a player or coach lives from an embassy — sometimes up to four hours by car in Roeling’s experience — can complicate scheduling and delay the process even more.
To bypass extra delays in the past, the Rapids took advantage of Third Country National visa processing, which allowed players and coaches to apply for their visa at an embassy outside of their home country. But as of September of last year, that avenue was eliminated. A U.S. embassy in Canada, which frequently had a shorter wait time, was an option for the Rapids, but is no longer available.
Clubs around MLS are feeling the effects of the changes, too. Henrik Rydström, the Columbus Crew’s new head coach, arrived in Florida for its preseason Tuesday night — 10 days after camp started — after awaiting his visa. Roeling said there are group chats between him and his counterparts around the league to ask questions and provide tips or heads-ups regarding the visa and immigration process.
“If there are fans that are frustrated that it’s taking a long time, I would say that everybody internally who’s working on it is equally frustrated,” Roeling said. “In order to be successful, we need to put these players and these coaches in the position to succeed, and that’s giving them as much time (as possible) to integrate with the squad. … These things keep me up at night.”
Longer-than-ideal wait times on visas for international signings can have real effects. Last season, summer transfer window signings Rob Holding (England), and especially Alexis Manyoma (Colombia), couldn’t integrate soon enough for the Rapids to be at full fitness and strength by the end of the year. Injuries and roster competition also played roles, but delayed integration limited both players’ ability to build match fitness and familiarity down the stretch.
Holding was much closer to that mark, having played 527 minutes over six games, while Manyoma logged only 38 minutes across three appearances. Nine matches passed between their signings (Aug. 3 and 8, respectively) and the end of the year.
Ahead of the 2024 season, loan player Lamine Diack arrived late to the Rapids’ preseason and struggled, then only played 19 minutes across four games. After being touted as a potential answer to the defensive midfield problem of the time, coaches and front office members correlated his struggles with his late arrival.
Wells wants to avoid that issue as best he can, particularly with Ojediran, who holds Nigerian citizenship and is still waiting for his visa. Every day, the two connect via WhatsApp to go over what happened in training that day, from tactics and film to terminology and expectations. The club has Ojediran on a challenging, “strictly monitored” conditioning regimen similar to what the team is experiencing in Florida. Ojediran attends team meetings via video chat.
But there are aspects of preseason that cannot be replicated.
“I think my biggest concern (with Ojediran) is his lack of exposure to me, what I’m about in training — why do I stop sessions? When do I stop sessions? What are the habits I don’t like to see?” Wells said. “When I call the guys into a huddle where he can’t be there, he’s not listening in to what I’ve just spotted in those moments.
“But the good news is, the type of person he is, his mentality, I know he’s going to turn up in great condition physically, so then it’s just going to be really about giving him our tactical principles, catching him up on the work the other guys have done, and then we’ll be in a really good space.”
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