The United States has announced an exemption from visa bond payment requirements for FIFA World Cup ticket holders whose teams have qualified for the soccer tournament.
In 2025, the Trump administration began requiring visitors to the US from certain countries to pay a bond of between $5,000 (€4,300) and $15,000 to obtain a tourist visa.
The bond requirement scheme was expanded to include 50 countries in 2026.
Five of the 50 countries subject to the visa bond have qualified for the World Cup: Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia.
The State Department announced Wednesday that the US will waive the bond requirement for fans from eligible countries. They must have a valid ticket and be already registered through a special system, known as FIFA Pass, to expedite their visa processing.
“The Administration is waiving visa bonds for eligible fans who purchased World Cup tickets and opted for the FIFA Pass through April 15, 2026,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar said in a statement.
Fans of some World Cup teams still under ban
The exemptions don’t change much for fans from Senegal and Ivory Coast, who are on the list of countries subject to a partial ban on entry to the US from December 2025.
This partial ban means that fans who did not have a visa before December will not be granted visitor visas to travel to the US to watch their teams play.
Fans of World Cup qualifying teams Haiti and Iran are still banned from entering the US under a complete suspension of visas from those two countries.
Travel restrictions and visa bond requirements do not apply to World Cup players, coaches and certain staff.
Fear of US immigration action during World Cup
The bond waiver is a rare temporary relaxation of immigration requirements under the administration of US President Donald Trump.
This will partially ease the travel burden for some visitors to the US for the World Cup, which starts on June 11. It is co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, with three-quarters of the tournament’s matches (78 games) being played.
The Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration has already impacted the tournament amid fans’ concerns about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
In late April, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch called on FIFA to pressure the Trump administration to establish an “ICE truce” for the World Cup, including a public guarantee to refrain from immigration enforcement actions at games and venues.
DHS said at the time that international visitors traveling for the Games “have nothing to worry about” if they have legal immigration status. The statement comes despite people with legal immigration status in the US – and some US citizens – being detained during ICE raids.
Edited by: Shawn Sinico