How NIL Works for International Students

While the world of NIL brings immense opportunity for collegiate and high school athletes to profit off their brand, the ability to do so for international students is not as straightforward. According to the U.S. News & World Report, more than 12% of college athletes in the U.S. are from a foreign country, 3,000 of which are Division 1 athletes on an F-1 student visa. With immigration regulations comes a very unclear NIL path, as these international student-athletes have not been easily able to take part in NIL deals like their teammates have.

There are different visa categories with different rules, but most international student-athletes, as stated above, are in the F-1 international student status, sponsored by their college or university. This means that the school is responsible for that student’s immigration compliance and has the ability to cancel the student’s F-1 visa status if the student violates any F-1 regulations. Violations of the F-1 regulations that would be investigated by the school’s Designated School Officials (DSOs) can include working outside of permitted parameters or without proper authorization. This means that, in almost all cases, international student-athletes are not permitted to sign deals with companies, as this is considered an off-campus job, and the school would be legally obligated to terminate their visa.

If an international player gets a deal in the country of their citizenship, does the work there, and is paid outside of the United States, there likely would not be a problem. Additionally, immigration lawyers have stated that student-athletes signing a “passive” NIL deal (meaning they are just signing an agreement allowing their name to be used on something with little to no work involved on their part) could be allowed if the document is signed in their home country. However, the lack of clarity makes it a slippery slope for international student-athletes, and thus hard for them to feel comfortable signing any deals.

UConn Women’s Basketball forward, Dorka Juhasz of Hungary, is one of the many student-athletes who has been advised to not accept any NIL deals because of the possibility of having her visa terminated, despite her teammates like star Paige Bueckers having endorsement deals with Gatorade and StockX. While Bueckers claims the imbalance “hasn’t affected [the team’s] chemistry at all,” it is clear that there must be change to include the deserving athletes who are getting excluded.

To learn more about NIL's impact on International Students, check out the CleanKonnect NIL Certification Course.