New Overwatch League Signings, Including Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon, Delayed by Visa Issues

Wednesday’s official signing of Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon by the Overwatch League’s Shanghai Dragons was celebrated as a big first step for inclusivity within the league, and fans in the know on Geguri’s Zarya skills couldn’t wait to see how she’d perform on the game’s largest stage. Unfortunately, we’re all going to have to wait a bit longer to see the first woman signed to Overwatch League in action.

Unikrn reports that Geguri, along with other Shanghai signings He “Sky” Junjian, Lee “Fearless” Eui-Seok and Chon “Ado” Gi-Hyeon, will not be able to compete for the squad when Stage Two of the OWL season begins on Feb. 21 due to visa issues. “Based on visa application times, we predict that our four new recruits will arrive in the U.S. later in Phase Two,” said Shanghai Dragons manager Van. Geguri and company are all Korean and are applying for athletic visas, which can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to obtain.

OWL has had a bit of a rocky go of it early on in terms of timing when it comes to visa applications. The Philadelphia Fusion didn’t participate in the OWL preseason because of complications that rose from visa applications.

Hopefully the wait won’t lessen the impact of Geguri’s OWL debut later in Stage Two, but Shanghai, which is 0-10 currently, could have no postseason aspirations without a dramatic turnaround. Geguri was meant to be part of that overhaul, though, so any lengthy delay will likely only keep the Dragons in the OWL basement.