US visa crackdown costs coach
The career of a promising New Zealand basketball coach has been put on hold because of tighter United States’ immigration policies.
Darron Larsen was forced to leave his job as assistant coach of the University of Hawaii’s women’s team as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on H-1B visas.
Larsen was told his visa was declined because coaching was no longer considered a ‘‘specialty occupation’’.
The former Manawatu¯ Jets player and coach had been working on an H-1B visa, which allows companies in the US to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations if they have the relevant qualifications.
But the Trump administration has taken a tougher stance on the visas. ‘‘One of the criteria is that you have to have a specific degree to be whatever you are – be it a lawyer or a doctor. Now they are saying two years later that [coaching] is no longer qualified for an H-1B,’’ Larsen, who holds a bachelor of education, said.
It was a different story when Larsen and wife Toni set off for the US in 2015.
He was issued a three-year visa to work as an assistant coach and offensive co-ordinator with the Pepperdine University women’s basketball team.
The team’s head coach was Ryan Weisenberg, who Larsen worked under with the Jets. But in his second year, Weisenberg’s contract was not renewed and, as is common when the head coach changes, the assistants were let go too.
Larsen was then hired in the same role with the University of Hawaii under coach Laura Beeman in July last year.
With his visa not expiring until August, 2018, he expected it to be a relatively simple process of changing his employer.
‘‘I was working along 41⁄2 months into my contract and we got the first request for more information [from US immigration]. Hawaii put some more information in and it came back declined.’’
So Larsen applied for a new visa. ‘‘We thought everything was going to be OK and then it came back eight weeks later that it was declined.’’
From there Larsen and his wife had 10 days to pack up their stuff and leave.
A vacancy at Feilding High School, where he had previously spent 12 years teaching, meant he at least returned to the country with a job.
But the next step for his coaching career is less certain.
‘‘I don’t know [my next move], to be honest,’’ he said. ‘‘I am trying to just get myself settled back in New Zealand first and see what is available. I wanted to take a breath.’’
But he said he would likely coach at the school and was interested in getting involved with Basketball New Zealand. He was open to a New Zealand National Basketball League (NBL) return, but with the season starting next month, this year’s coaching teams were already in place.
‘‘As a coach you don’t want to be out of the game for too long, otherwise you get left behind in the shuffle,’’ Larsen said.
The Manawatu¯ Jets, scheduled to return to the NBL this year, are yet to name a coach. The Jets have previously said the role would be unpaid for the first season.