In a move aimed at facilitating fan attendance for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the Trump administration has announced that it will waive the mandatory $15,000 visa deposit requirement for football fans traveling from 50 pre-designated restricted countries, so long as visitors hold valid match tickets for the tournament.
Five countries that have successfully qualified for the June 11 tournament – Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Tunisia – fall within the group of 50 nations originally subject to the bond rule. “We are waiving visa bonds for qualified fans who bought World Cup tickets,” Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar confirmed in an official statement shared with the BBC.
The controversial visa bond requirement was first rolled out in August of last year as part of a 12-month pilot program tied to the administration’s broader immigration enforcement agenda. According to official documentation published by the U.S. State Department, the policy was designed to cut down on rates of visa overstays and address cases where applicant screening and vetting data was deemed incomplete. The full deposit would be refunded to visitors once they departed the U.S. at the end of their approved stay. Prior to this new announcement, only participating World Cup players and coaching staff had been granted exemption from the bond rule; ordinary ticket-holding fans were not included until Wednesday’s official update.
Global governing body FIFA has praised the decision, framing it as evidence of productive ongoing collaboration between the organization and the Trump White House to deliver a standout 2026 tournament. “The announcement demonstrates the ongoing collaboration with the White House to deliver a successful, record-breaking and unforgettable global event,” FIFA said in a statement, adding, “We are grateful to the Administration for the ongoing partnership.”
Despite the new exemption for fans, several key restrictions remain in place for travelers from the affected group of countries. Travelers from Iran and Haiti still face full entry bans to the U.S., though players and coaches from both nations are exempt for tournament-related travel. Fans from Ivory Coast and Senegal, both of which earned qualification for 2026, still face partial travel restrictions under the administration’s expanded entry ban policy. Human rights organizations have previously raised repeated concerns about the disproportionate impact of the bond policy and broader entry restrictions on vulnerable travelers, warning that the rules create unnecessary barriers to global participation in the world’s biggest sporting event.