Joe Coffey is caught—and never simply in his wrestling profession. The previous WWE NXT UK standout lately opened up concerning the fallout from his WWE launch, revealing a visa nightmare that has left him grounded in the USA with no approach to work or return residence.
Whereas talking with MuscleManMalcolm on the Muscle Reminiscence podcast, Coffey defined how his U.S. work visa was straight tied to his WWE contract. As soon as that deal ended, so did his authorized proper to work or journey internationally. Now, he and his fellow Gallus members—Mark Coffey and Wolfgang—are in limbo, unable to wrestle and even go away the nation.
“Simply to chop an extended story brief, with the discharge and the contract, our visa goes with that. So we’re within the strategy of going by way of a brand new visa, which hopefully received’t be too prolonged—it’s expensive, however it’s going to be an funding. Sadly, simply now now we have to be landlocked within the U.S. So it means we will’t work within the U.S. or get again to Europe or Japan or something. So it’s only a little bit of a ready sport.”
Coffey additional revealed that U.S. immigration legislation usually permits for a 30 to 60-day grace interval after a contract ends. However for him, leaving the U.S. wasn’t actually an choice.
“Being a world expertise, with that contract comes a visa, and sadly the visa goes with the contract. So going by way of a brand new visa course of, we can not go away the nation. Like we solely had like, I feel it was 30 to 60 days to depart America. And to me, that’s simply not an choice simply now—as a result of for the previous two years I’ve had a missus right here, and I’m going to have to separate my time between Europe and the States and possibly Japan if that comes calling. So now we have to form of be landlocked simply now till that visa course of goes by way of.”
For now, Coffey is compelled to attend on new paperwork earlier than he can get again within the ring—and even fly residence. It’s a harsh reminder that the lifetime of a world wrestler isn’t nearly contracts and storylines—it’s about authorized standing, too.
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