Yoky visa denied, Team Empire turns to Funn1k

Team Empire player Maxim “Yoky” Kim has had his visa to the United States denied for the second time. With the MLG LAN finals coming up between April 10-12, in Columbus, Ohio, the team turns to former Na’Vi player Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov to stand in.

The team has not released the reasons for the denial but it seems all the other players on the team have already secured their visas and are confident that Funn1k will also obtain his approval. Recently, the Russian team HellRaisers has forfeited their tie-breaking match versus Balkan Bears Coreleone for the LAN spot due to issues with visa approval for Dulat “goddam” Seidimomyn.

Team Empire will be joined by @Funn1kDota during @MLG Columbus 2012 anyone? http://t.co/lay52hCjyZ pic.twitter.com/Z17xRYhA7b

— Team Empire (@team_empire) March 31, 2015

Dota 2 US visa issues in the past

2015

VP.Polar member, Ilya “lil-_-HarRDy” Ilyuk was unable to obtain a visa in time for the Dota 2 League Season 5 LAN finals in Las Vegas.

Southeast Asian team Rave withdrew from their participation in StarLadder Season 12, so that they had enough time to work on visas for the MLG event next week.

2014

Armand “bOne7” Pittner was denied a visa for the Monster Energy Invitational in Austin, Texas, last March. The player and his team, Cloud 9, hired an immigration lawyer to secure his visa for The International 2014.

Four out of five players fron the SEA team Arrow Gaming were denied their visas to attend TI4. The team benefited from additional supporting documents provided by Valve and backing from Malaysia’s Minister of Youth and Sports, in order to get the approval.

The entire SEA team CIS, except for Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier who holds a German passport, were denied their visa applications during an interview with the embassy, before appealing the decision and gaining the approval.

2012

Alexandru “ComeWithMe” Crăciunescu – while on the Mousesports roster, was denied his visa and replaced by Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi for The International 2012.

MLG

Three regional leagues have competed online for the six LAN finals spots and a prize pool of $75,000. The MLG finals will take place between April 10-12 at the MLG Arena in Colomubs, OH. Team Empire, Evil Geniuses, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Balkan Bears Coreleone, Rave and Not Today are the qualifying teams to attend.