Recently we reported that AdmiralBullDog might be unable to attend The International. This was just speculation based off a tweet and was not confirmed.
However it seems BullDog will really not be attending the International. It is an issue of Bulldog not having the right VISA to enter into the USA. It was discovered just hours before his flight to the US. The entire ordeal was extremely confusing for the couple ( Bulldog & his girlfriend ) and also cost them a significant amount of money.
Some more info https://t.co/iLIfqtikis
— Henrik Ahnberg (@AdmiralBulldog) August 1, 2017
You can read the full statement by Bulldog below :
Hello so you probably know by now I got denied entrance to the US, so let’s just start at the beginning.
I got contacted by valve(pgl) if I wanted to be part of ti7 and I of course said yes. Soon after that they asked me for passport and visa information which i provided,I have a b1/b2 visa. It’s for tourism and business, which I didn’t think much of I’m kinda there to do business? I should probably looked into more myself but I heard nothing more from valve or pgl so I assumed they reviewed it and thought it’s all good.
I got 2 hour sleep before our flight to Amsterdam because our flight was really early (6am) which is all good, I was planning on sleeping on the 10 hour flight there and i got a few hours more sleep on the plane but it’s airplane sleep so by the time we arrive im pretty sluggish and exhausted.
Then the US customs, it took around 1 hour 30 minutes to get up to the us custom officer where I told him I was here to work as a commentator on a tournament hosted by Valve. He then led me a away to a little room filled with maybe 20 other people and asked me to wait for a few minutes.
Two hours later they call me up asking for more information and I just tell them exactly what I’m doing there, she tells me she has to do an interview with her but before that she needs to deal with the easier cases in the room so I have to wait an additional hour. During all this time and in this room you are not allowed to use any electronics so I couldn’t get in touch with valve to ask for help.
Before the interview she allows me to use my phone and asks if there is anyone at valve she can talk to, I provide the number of Dawn but unfourtanelty they did not answer.
At the interview they just ask more of the same and I just truthfully tell them why I’m there. She tells me to wait 20 minutes for her superior ls to look into the case.
1 hour passes and she tells me that I’ve been denied access to the US and need to leave immediately as a flight is leaving in about 1 hour to Amsterdam where I have to spend the night to then later take a flight back to Gothenburg.
The reason it was denied was because to work in the US you need a work visa, I asked them about people who travel under esta waiver program and they told me that is also not acceptable.
The officers told me that what valve was doing is not okay, if valve are bringing in people to work for them they need to make sure everyone has working visa. I find it hard to believe valve is doing something wrong but at the same time I don’t know what i was doing wrong.
So I was rushed to the plane and had to wait there 15 minutes before boarding. My girlfriend who was patiently waiting with me also wanted to go back but had to go rush through tsa and just barley made it but lost her wallet in this process as it was very hectic for her.
So now I’m on flying back to amsterdam to spend the night there. From 2 hour sleep to 15 hour travel time to the US to 6-7 hours at custom back straight to another 10 hour flight to Amsterdam, not really a pleasant experience.
The consequences of this normally they ban you from entering the US the next 5 years but since they claimed that I was honest they just revoked my visa which I need for twitch con so now I have to go to Stockholm and get a new one which isn’t free and I live far from Stockholm so it’s basically a day’s work to make that happen.
My girlfriend’s trip cost 1200 usd and an additional emergency ticket back on plane for 600 usd, as mentioned previously she had to rush through tsa to get to the flight and lost her wallet which was a 250 usd wallet contains her drivers licenses and 2 credit cards amongst other things.
I will have to forfeit my talent fee which is very high for TI so it’s quite a loss
We were planning on doing daily vlogs for YouTube which I think a lot if people would love to see some behind scenes of the event and stuff like that.
Also we have been looking forward so much for this so just having the highlight of the year turning into one of your worst life experience, it just sucks.
In the end I don’t know who is to blame I just told the customs what I was there to do and they wouldn’t allow me in without a work visa. I assumed a b2 business visa would be fine and since valve/pgl didnt they say hey that visa won’t work you need this I assumed what I had was fine.
I don’t think there is any way for me to make it back in time as they revoked by visa so I’m feeling pretty shit. The event will go on and I’m sure it will be a great success and I’m sorry to all fans who expected to see me there.
