2019 was by far the hardest year of my life. Before I relay the story of everything that happened, let me introduce myself. My name is Angie, I am 31 years old, and I am an immigration attorney by trade. I moved to the NYC area four years ago after graduating from law school and started training Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu about six months later. I currently train at Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan. So far, I have reached the rank of Blue Belt in BJJ and I have competed several times in IBJJF and Grappling Industries tournaments. While I intend to practice both martial arts until my body literally will not let me, my shorter term goal is to do at least one amateur MMA fight.

The inspiration for this blog post came from my experience working with several mixed martial arts, bjj, and submission grappling competitors to obtain proper visas to enter and work in the United States. Several have experienced problems trying to re-enter the United States because they previously worked without permission by teaching seminars or competing in professional promotions. As someone who trains Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I take great pride in being able to help members of the martial arts community pursue their dreams and goals. Unfortunately, knowledge on the specific intersection of U.S. immigration law and martial arts, is not widespread. Through this post, I hope to provide a basic overview of the law, why it is important to obtain proper visas, and why, unfortunately, it can be very hard to do so.