When Iraq’s national team qualified for the 2026 World Cup, fan Abdulla Adnan signed up for tickets to see his side play New York‑based cities Boston and Philadelphia. The plan quickly ran into a bureaucratic wall: the U.S. has paused routine consular operations in Iraq, and he cannot obtain a visa in his homeland.
Seeking an alternative, Adnan travelled to Jordan where he could attend a U.S. embassy interview. He was told, however, that the embassy could not issue visas to someone who was not a Jordanian citizen. The cost of tickets and travel already ran up to roughly $1,800, yet the ticket‑buying process has become a gamble: the U.S. insists that players and fans must justify both the purpose of their visit and their intent to leave the U.S. promptly.
Adnan is not the only voice. Marvellous accounts from the Ivory Coast and Senegal confirm that travellers from those nations are hit by a 40‑plus per cent visa rejection rate, a figure that dwarfs the average 34 % for all B1/B2 visa applicants. The U.S. previously required a $15,000—approximately £11,000—deposit for tourists from qualifying countries until late 2025, but the requirement was lifted thereafter.
The COVID‑19‑era re‑versified travel landscape adds to the problem. In a Canadian–American joint host model, the U.S. retains a separate immigration regime from its neighbours. Canada and Mexico, the other hosts, implement their own visa schemes but still do not grant visa‑free entry to many qualifying nations. For example, Mexico has no diplomatic posts in several groups, including Ivory Coast, Senegal or Iraq, saddling passport holders with an elongated journey to a U.S. point of entry.
FIFA’s latest ‘FIFA Pass’ offers a quick‑track interview slot aimed at reducing wait times, yet it still requires a standard B2 tourist visa. Legal specialists warn that priority slots are not an assurance of approval; the U.S. Department of State maintains that each application is assessed case‑by‑case with a focus on safety and security.
One concrete example of the frustration: Jordan’s fan association head Abu Kass notes that of over 5,000 visa applications made in the last six months, all were denied. With high rejection rates, Jordanian fans are left uncertain whether any benefits can be harnessed from the 2026 World Cup, a tournament that many view as an inclusive global event.
Historically, host nations lay special visa pathways for fans. That model proves difficult to apply when a country like the United States applies policy measures that affect a wide swath of qualifying nations, including the Middle East and Africa. It leaves fans in the “outside” of the tournament, watching from afar, while the official narrative still paints it as a welcoming event.
