The Board of the United States Snooker Association (USSA) have decided to change with immediate effect the eligibility rules for players wishing to enter the United States National Snooker Championship.

The USSA had previously adopted the ruling of the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), that all players competing in their Championships must be a citizen of their respective nation.

There had been an ongoing discussion amongst USSA Board members to change these rules of which were proving very restrictive toward non-citizen snooker players, who had been living permanently in the United States for many years and were missing out on the much-needed opportunity to compete at national level.

From the 2023 United States National Snooker Championship, which will be hosted by the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California, from September 1 - 4, to be eligible to compete in the Championship all players must either be a citizen of the United States, or the holder of a valid Green Card who has been a continuous permanent resident of the United States for the past five years without any representation for another nation in any international snooker competition.

The USSA will reserve the right however not to select non-citizen players to compete in certain international competitions.

Alan Morris, the Executive Director of the USSA, commented: "This is fantastic news for snooker in the United States, as this will help expand the sport's base by giving non-citizen snooker players a goal to strive for in their adopted home country."

Interested eligible participants may now download the updated version of the Championship Entry Document by clicking the following link:
» Download the 2023 Championship Entry Document (PDF format)

The Entry Document contains the Championship rules of which a player must agree to abide by should you wish to enter the Championship, and so the USSA advises an interested participant to read the entire document carefully before submitting your entry.

All players wishing to participate in the Championship must be a registered USSA member on the Cloud Snooker, which is the USSA's online membership processing, tournament running and scoring system.

Existing and newly registered USSA members will then be able to enter the Championship on the Cloud Snooker system, and then you can be safely and securely billed your fees using your credit/debit card payment details — the USSA is no longer able to take any onsite cash payments. The annual membership fee of the USSA is $25, and the Championship entry fee is $150.

The closing date for entries is by the end of Sunday, August 20 (PDT).

If interested participants have any further questions, please feel free to contact the USSA.