Following Fawad Alam’s decision to leave Pakistan and play cricket in the USA, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that players need to obtain a mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC) if they wish to participate in leagues in the USA.
At present, several notable players, including those who have represented Pakistan on international circuits, including Sohaib Maqsood, Arshad Iqbal, Hussain Talat, Ali Shafiq, Imad Butt, Usman Shanwari, Umaid Asif, Zeeshan Ashraf, Saif Badar, Mukhtar Ahmed, and Nauman Anwar, are playing in the USA.
These players did not obtain PCB NOCs before heading to the USA.
Apart from Fawad Alam, other Pakistan players in some leagues in the USA are Hassan Khan, Sami Aslam, Hammad Azam, Salman Arshad, Mussadiq Ahmed, Imran Khan Junior, and Ali Nasir.
However, a source on the board confirmed a few players, including Alam, had visited visas and had informed the board before going to the USA.
A well-informed insider said some of the players, including Alam, have already applied for that category of visas, which would eventually give them green cards within a year and a half, allowing them to settle down in the USA.
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In the past, former players Sami Aslam, Hammad Azam, Nauman Anwar, and Ramiz Raja settled in the USA and are now green card holders.
According to the rules and regulations of the USA Minor League, a player is only eligible to play as a local once he has retired from international cricket and from his home domestic cricket.
Players who don’t want to retire from international or their home domestic seasons are only entertained as “guest” players, and their teams don’t apply for green card status for them.
Initially, the US Minor League used to function as an organisation and call players to the USA on their quota of work-based visas, which eventually led to them getting green cards.
But now, the teams in the league have to directly invite players from their quota of visas.
The PCB had previously implemented a stipulation of $10,000 for procuring a NOC prior to participating in foreign leagues, but apparently, the teams in the USA Minor League have been reluctant to make such a heavy payment.
“Besides the minor league, other cricket matches and tournaments are held year round especially at long weekends and players remain busy with playing and coaching. And with the launch of the USA Major League USA is now a feasible destination for some Pakistani players who are overlooked at home,” the source said.
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