I have an international player interested in participating in my upcoming tournament. He is concerned about getting a USCF membership, as FIDE B.3.1.8 states
and furthermore
which poses an issue as the player does not have US residency.
I am aware of the International Online membership presumably intended for this purpose (and have used it once before in the past), but I don’t know how to reconcile it with the above FIDE regulations. Does anyone know if this poses any potential issues? Thanks!
There is no problem with an international player joining US Chess and paying dues. Joining US Chess does not mean the player has changed his FIDE federation to USA. Such a player is in no way “playing for” USA or representing USA in any FIDE competition.
In a private exchange, Boyd Reed has explained that, while my answer is technically correct, there may be more to the story. While FIDE has no issue whatsoever with an international player joining US Chess, some national federations might. Mr. Reed explained that some international players have indeed had to take the international online membership so that the player’s MSA page would show absolutely no US state or national residence or affiliation. However, this is not a FIDE concern.
What Ken says, FIDE does not care how many national federation memberships you have, you can only be registered with one country with them.
However, maybe the issue is the player has never played in a FIDE event before and does not want to become registered as USA with FIDE. If so he/she should contact his own national federation and request them to create him/her a FIDE ID. The player can then use that when playing in US Chess events and their US Chess membership will be linked to their FIDE profile showing them being a faithful player of whatever country they wish to represent.
However, maybe the issue is the player has never played in a FIDE event before and does not want to become registered as USA with FIDE. If so he/she should contact his own national federation and request them to create him/her a FIDE ID. The player can then use that when playing in US Chess events and their US Chess membership will be linked to their FIDE profile showing them being a faithful player of whatever country they wish to represent.
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The main problem is that when selling a new USCF membership some organizers/TDs would not give the correct address so the office would know that they were foreign players. This was before there was the non-printed Chess Life option and the foreign address cost more. When the FIDE report was submitted they were listed a USA as the office did not know they were foreign. Hopefully with the new procedures this does not happen. It may if the request for a FIDE ID does not include the proper federation information.