The Trump administration’s strict travel bans and rigorous visa vetting processes are creating significant logistical hurdles and security concerns for international fans planning to attend the 2026 World Cup.
The Trump administration’s stringent immigration policies are causing significant concern ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
With the tournament just five months away, travel bans and a recent pause on immigrant visa processing for 75 countries have raised alarms at FIFA.
While the immigrant visa pause does not directly impact tourists, travelers from qualified nations like Senegal, Ivory Coast, Iran, and Haiti currently face total bans on entry for business or pleasure.
The White House defends these measures as vital for national security, citing high visa overstay rates from specific regions.
For example, the administration noted that Haitian visitors had a staggering overstay rate of 31.38 percent. While athletes and team officials are granted exemptions, millions of supporters remain in limbo.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino previously warned that “supporters and officials… need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup.”
To mitigate backlogs, the U.S. State Department introduced the “FIFA PASS,” a prioritized appointment system for ticket holders. Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified, “A ticket is not a visa and it doesn’t guarantee admission to the U.S.,” but promised interviews within eight weeks.
Despite this, applicants from non-visa-waiver countries, including football giants like Brazil and Argentina, must still undergo rigorous vetting and face potentially long waits at local consulates.
Even fans from visa-waiver nations may face new hurdles. A recent proposal suggests that travelers must provide five years of social media records and a decade of email history to enter the U.S.
This “extreme vetting” aligns with President Trump’s executive order to protect against foreign threats. These heightened requirements could dissuade international travelers, potentially leaving host cities reliant on domestic audiences and threatening the tournament’s projected $50 billion economic output.
As the June 11 kickoff approaches, the tension between national security and the spirit of a global celebration remains unresolved.
Vice President J.D. Vance recently underscored the administration’s firm stance on temporary stays, remarking, “when the time is up, we want them to go home.”
Whether the “FIFA Peace Prize” spirit will lead to last-minute concessions for fans remains the defining off-field question for the most ambitious World Cup in history.