A couple days ago,
CIS Game announced that their visas had been
denied for a first time. This wasn't much of a problem as
Arrow Gaming faced the same issue but were able to get their visas
approved in time. However,
CIS hasn't had the same amount of luck and their visa applications have been denied for a third time. With
TI4 approaching, this might become a real problem.
According to
Lin "
June" Shiyang, the manager of the team and
Dominik "
Black^"
Reitmeier, the team's veteran, have had no problems in getting their
visas approved and they are good to go. However, the four youngest
members of the team have had their applications denied over and over
again. At this point they have contacted
Valve,
Perfect World, and the
Chinese Government to help them out with their application. They have promised to apply again in a couple days. However, in a
tweet,
Black^ said
that the tournament might end sooner than expected. While many are
hopeful that this tweet was talking about the World Cup match between
Algeria and Germany (as Germany was having a tough time during the
match), it is more than likely that he is referring to his team's
current situation. It is very possible that if their visa applications
don't get approved soon, they won't be able to attend
TI4 and play in the Wild Card match.
This is one of many problems qualifying teams have faced with visa
approval. Is it possible that Valve will consider moving their biggest
tournament,
The International, to a more visa-friendly location next year? Only time will tell. We at DotaCinema sincerely hope that
CIS' visas get approved in time to participate in
TI4.