Nengsu Kenfack, Stamps Todd and Brown: Louisiana Ruling Could Open NIL Deals for International Student-Athletes
A case in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana could reshape the extent to which international student-athletes are able to engage in name, image and likeness deals. In an article for Law360 titled “Why La. Ruling May Open NIL Deals For Int'l Student-Athletes,” Shook Partners Brice Nengsu Kenfack and Britta Stamps Todd and Associate Rhakeem Brown discuss the case of Last-Tear Poa, the plaintiff and a full-time student-athlete previously at Louisiana State University.
Poa filed a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to change her F-1 student visa to a P-1A athlete to pursue potential NIL deals without jeopardizing her full-time student status. USCIS denied her application, prompting her suit asking the court to set aside the denial and order the government to approve her petition to change status, Nengsu Kenfack, Stamps Todd and Brown explain. The court denied the government’s motion to dismiss.
“Siding with Poa, the court held that the issue before it—whether USCIS’ interpretation of the phrase ‘temporarily and solely for the purpose of performing’ in USCIS’ decision to deny Poa's petition was capricious and arbitrary—involved a question of fact that it could not decide without the benefit of a full administrative record,” they say.
