US Waives $5,000-$15,000 Visa Bond for World Cup Ticket Holders, Travel Ban Still Blocks Four Nations
The Trump administration is suspending the visa-bond requirement for travellers from 50 countries provided they hold 2026 World Cup tickets and use the "FIFA PASS" expedited-appointment system. Five qualified nations sit inside the bond programme. A separate travel ban still bars or partially bars visitors from Iran, Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
T he Trump administration will waive the United States visa-bond requirement for travellers who hold a 2026 World Cup ticket, the State Department confirmed on Wednesday. The bond programme, in force since earlier this year, requires visitors from 50 listed countries to deposit $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 at the time of entry, refundable on timely departure. The State Department had justified the scheme by citing high visa-overstay rates from the listed nations.
Five of the 50 countries on the bond list have qualified for the 2026 World Cup: Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia. Travelling fans from those nations would have faced a four- or five-figure cash deposit on arrival on top of normal visa costs, a barrier that several federations and supporters' groups had pushed Washington to lift.
"The United States is excited to organize the biggest and best FIFA World Cup in history," Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar told the Associated Press. "We are waiving visa bonds for qualified fans who bought World Cup tickets." Namdar added that fans seeking the waiver have to go through the "FIFA PASS" system, which offers expedited visa-appointment slots tied to confirmed ticket purchases.
The waiver is narrower than it first appears. The Trump administration's travel-ban orders, issued last year, still apply on top of the bond programme. Iran, Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal are all World Cup participants whose citizens face at least partial bans on entry to the United States. Two of those, Ivory Coast and Senegal, sit inside the visa-bond programme as well: their ticket-holding fans are now exempt from the cash bond but the travel-ban restrictions remain a separate, harder layer.
For federations the practical effect is uneven. Algerian, Cape Verdean and Tunisian ticket-holders gain a clearer path to the United States legs of the group stage and onwards. Iranian fans remain blocked under the travel ban regardless of ticket status. Haitian, Ivorian and Senegalese supporters still need to clear the ban's carve-outs case by case. The 2026 World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the United States hosting 78 of the 104 matches.