The Baseball Diplomacy Act would create a narrow lane for Cuban nationals to come to the United States to play organized professional baseball by waiving several long-standing embargo-era restrictions. Specifically, it would prohibit using certain embargo and national emergency authorities to regulate or prohibit the entry of Cuban players on a visa appropriate for athletes, allow those players to enter and earn money in the United States for the duration of a baseball season, and permit earnings to be returned to Cuba. The bill also limits the visa duration to the length of a season and prohibits automatic renewal for subsequent U.S. entries beyond the season unless tied to a new contract with a U.S. team. It does not remove all restrictions on Cuba-related policy, but it does override certain embargo-related prohibitions for this specific purpose.
Key Points
- 1Creates a Baseball Diplomacy Act that waives certain embargo-era and national-emergency authorities to let Cuban nationals enter the United States to play organized professional baseball on a visa described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (an athletic/temporary worker visa type).
- 2Prohibits the use of embargo and national-security authorities (Foreign Assistance Act, Trading with the Enemy Act, and IEEPA) to regulate or prohibit transactions related to Cuban players entering the U.S. to play baseball and to returning earnings earned here.
- 3Blocks the denial of the applicable visa under INA section 212(f) (which authorizes temporary visa refusals on security grounds) for Cuban nationals who would play baseball.
- 4States that this relaxation does not apply to other LIBERTAD Act restrictions and otherwise maintains Congress’s ability to allow these specific transactions despite other Cuba-related policies.
- 5Visa conditions: the visa would authorize the player to stay in the U.S. only for the baseball season and would not require renewal for subsequent entries if the player has a valid contract with the U.S. team for the preceding season.