The NCAA and its evolving Name, Image, and Likeness (“NIL”) landscape has opened new opportunities and provided financial benefits for collegiate athletes. However, international NCAA student-athletes on F-1 visas are a different story, facing many challenging legal constraints resulting from new NIL opportunities.

As of July 1, 2025, the House v. NCAA settlement has allowed schools to share athletic department revenues with their varsity athletes[1] under the NCAA revenue sharing model.[2] The NCAA revenue sharing model enables schools to make payments directly to athletes up to $20.5 million per year with an “annual cap [to] increase to around $32 million over the next ten years.”[3] It also removes scholarship restrictions and instead applies roster limits to all Division I sports.[4]

NIL policies empower student-athletes to benefit financially and earn income from business ventures and their own personal brand while still in school.[5] Examples of NIL activities include “social posts or content for a brand, autograph signing, camps or clinics . . . appearances in commercials or promotional events, and endorsement or sponsorship agreements.”[6] While student-athletes in the United States can build their personal brands and profit from their NIL, international student-athletes continue to navigate a complex and evolving legal landscape due to restrictions placed on F-1 student visas.

As of 2024, there are more than 25,000 international students studying and competing at NCAA schools. [7] To be able to compete, “[t]he F-1 Visa (Academic Student) allows [the international student-athlete] to enter the United States as a full-time student at an accredited college[] [or] university . . . .”[8] However, international student-athletes on F-1 visas face strict limits on earning income as the term “employment” is broadly defined under federal law.

Under 8 C.F.R. § 274a.1(h), “[t]he term employment means any service of labor performed by an employee for an employer within the United States . . . .”[9] Employment under an F-1 visa, in the context of being an international student-athlete, becomes more challenging and contextually broad as there is no explicit limit as to what constitutes employment for an international student-athlete profiting from NIL opportunities.[10] F-1 students can obtain on-campus employment that “must either be performed on the school’s premises . . . or at an off-campus location that is educationally affiliated with the school.[11] F-1 students may work off-campus after having been in F-1 status for one full academic year, but this is limited to Curricular Practical Training (“CPT”), Optional Practical Training (“OPT”), Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (“STEM”), or severe economic hardship work authorization.[12] None of these options explicitly pertain to F-1 international student-athletes.

Because NIL-related financial benefits are not explicitly addressed within the definition of “employment” under immigration law, the distinction between permissible NIL activity and unauthorized work remains unclear for international F-1 student-athletes, creating significant uncertainty and risk of noncompliance. Noncompliance with F-1 visas has serious consequences. In general, acceptance of unauthorized employment in violation of F-1 visa status renders aliens deportable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227.[13] Accordingly, an international student athlete who engages in unauthorized NIL employment risks violating their F-1 visa status and being removed from the United States under 8 U.S.C. § 1227.[14]

However, a P-1A visa applies to those “coming temporarily to the United States solely for the purpose of performing at a specific athletic competition as: (1) [a]n individual athlete at an internationally recognized level of performance; (2) [p]art of a group or team at an internationally recognized level of performance; (3) [a] professional athlete; or (4) [a]n athlete or coach, as part of a team or franchise that is located in the United States and a member of a foreign league or association.”[15] Recently, on September 19, 2025, in the case of Poa v. Jaddou, a federal judge denied the United States government’s argument to block international student-athletes from obtaining a P-1A visa. [16] An Australian women’s basketball player at Louisiana State University athlete, Last-Tea Poa, filed a NIL lawsuit after she was denied a P-1A visa.[17] Last-Tea Poa’s success in surpassing a motion to dismiss may be instrumental in the future of international student-athlete compensation.[18] The P-1A visa, if approved, would allow international student-athletes to receive compensation as professional athletes are able to under this classification.

Yet, absent an explicit solution addressing the scope of NIL compensation for international student-athletes, the boundaries of their F-1 visa status remain ambiguous as NIL opportunities expand with each passing year. It will be interesting to see how the Poa case develops as the litigation proceeds. Until then, international student-athletes remain on the NIL sideline as they watch their domestic counterparts take advantage of NIL opportunities.

[1] House v. NCAA, 545 F. Supp. 3d 804 (N.D. Cal. 2021).

[2] Patrick O’Rourke, Estimated Revenue Sharing, NIL-NCAA, https://nil-ncaa.com/ (last visited Oct. 27, 2025).

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), NCAA, https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2021/7/9/name-image-likeness.aspx (last visited Nov. 25, 2025).

[6] Id.

[7] International Student-Athlete Handbook, NCAA, https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/inclusion/inter/INC_IntlStudentHandbook.pdf (last visited Oct. 29, 2025).

[8] Students and Employment, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/students-and-employment (last visited Oct. 29, 2025).

[9] 8 C.F.R. § 274a.1(h).

[10] Id.

[11] 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(f)(i).

[12] 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(f)(iI); Students and Employment, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/students-and-employment (last visited Oct.29, 2025).

[13] 8 U.S.C. § 1227.

[14] Id.

[15] P-1A Athlete, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/p-1a-athlete (last visited October 29, 2025)

[16] Dan Murphy, Judge rules against U.S. government in NIL-visa lawsuit, ESPN (September 19, 2025), https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/46315688/judge-rules-us-government-nil-visa-lawsuit  

[17] Id; see also Connor T. Bean, The Blocking of International Student-Athletes from Earning NIL Opportunities in College Athletics, Sports Litigation Alert, https://sportslitigationalert.com/the-blocking-of-international-student-athletes-from-earning-nil-opportunities-in-college-athletics/ (April 18, 2025).

[18] Connor T. Bean, supra note 16.