Managing Partner Michael Wildes is proud to announce the approval of the petition filed to secure P-1 classification for Houston Rockets player Thabo Sefolosha. November 2019
Originally from Switzerland, Thabo Sefolosha is an internationally recognized athlete who has previously played on some of the most successful NBA teams, including the Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, and Utah Jazz. He also previously played internationally in the Turkish Basketball League for the Fenerbahçe, in France for Élan Chalon, in Italy for Angelico Biella, and in Switzerland for Vevey Riviera Basket. In 2006, he became the first player from Switzerland to play in the NBA, and in 2013, he was labelled the best Swiss basketball player of all-time by Swiss newspaper Freiburger Nachrichten. Due to his tremendous success and worldwide recognition in the basketball industry, he has been sought out to play with the Houston Rockets for the 2019-2020 season.
The P-1 is a temporary employment visa that allows foreign nationals who are individual or team athletes or members of an entertainment group to enter the United States for a specific event or performance.
Wildes & Weinberg, P.C. was founded in 1960 by Michael’s father, Leon Wildes, whose best-known accomplishment was his successful representation of John Lennon in his widely publicized deportation proceedings, the circumstances of which have inspired several films and documentaries. The firm specializes exclusively in the practice of U.S. immigration and nationality law, has a distinguished domestic and international clientele, and can assist with any type of immigration matter including employment and investment-based immigration, work permits, permanent residence for qualified individuals, family-based immigration, asylum applications, all temporary and permanent type visas, and U.S. citizenship.
In addition to running a highly successful immigration law practice, Michael is a three term Mayor in Englewood, New Jersey, the author of Safe Haven in America: Battles to Open the Golden Door, which draws on over a quarter of a century of his practice in the immigration field, an Adjunct Professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, and serves as Counsel to Lincoln Center and several international/corporate law firms. Moreover, Michael is internationally renowned for his successful representation of distinguished individuals and corporate clients such as performing artists, directors, writers, models, actors/actresses, athletes, race car drivers, fine artists, art dealers, curators, musicians, photographers, stylists, and literary agents. Some of the firm’s other distinguished clients include scholar Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, as well as soccer icon Pele, Master Chef Jean-Georges and First Lady Melania Trump and her family.
Today, Wildes & Weinberg, maintains offices in New York City, New York, Englewood, New Jersey, Miami, Florida, and a presence in Los Angeles, California and the firm continues to maintain its stellar reputation in the field of U.S. Immigration & Nationality Law.
For more information on the P-1 visa category, please visit our Immigration 101 page or contact Michael Wildes at michael@wildeslaw.com.