Georgia punter Brett Thorson pitches NIL opportunities while home in Australia due to visa restrictions

The Georgia Bulldogs, like many teams, have turned to an Austrian punter with Brett Thorson. However, thanks to his status and restrictions on his visa, that means that Thorson is unable to take advantage of NIL opportunities.

Because of those restrictions, Brett Thorson recently pitched NIL opportunities on social media while he’s home in Australia.

“Due to my visa status as an international student, I am unfortunately not able to benefit from NIL deals in the United States,” Thorson wrote.

Please msg if interested ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/AT61pFi1Wy

— Brett Thorson (@brett_thorson) June 12, 2024

“However, I am excited to currently be home in Australia and can participate in deals and partnerships,” Thorson continued. “If you or your business is interested, you can reach out to me directly or to the Classic City Collective – [email protected]. Go Dawgs!”

NIL is still relatively new to college sports and there are many unique aspects to it. One of those has been that not everyone is qualified for NIL. The players at military academies, for instance, aren’t eligible for NIL. Likewise, international students aren’t able to take advantage of those opportunities either.

However, it appears Thorson has found a way to kind of work around that. Simply put, restrictions to his visa in the United States aren’t there in Australia.

Thorson is far from the only athlete in college sports to be impacted by not being able to make money off their NIL. It’s a restriction that extends to all international athletes in college, which has become a topic of debate in its own right about the fairness of that. It’s even gotten to the point that bipartisan legislation was introduced in April of 2024 to address international athlete NIL issues.

Co-sponsored by Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-North Carolina) and Rep. Mike Flood (R-Nebraska), the legislation seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. As of now, students on  F-1 student visas are prohibited from participating in employment.

“Since 2021, these athletes have been prohibited from profiting from name, image and likeness contracts in the same manner as their American counterparts,” Foushee said in a statement. “I’m proud to join Congressman Flood in introducing this bill that will modify F-1 visas to allow international student-athletes to profit from NIL agreements, without worrying about these agreements affecting their visa status.” 

Future changes, like an employee or contractor model, would also become challenges for international students thanks to how those visas work.

Brett Thorson came to Georgia in the 2022 cycle out of ProKick Australia. Since then, he’s played in 27 games and has 68 punts for a 44.5-yard average.