Last year, the administration began imposing bond requirements on visitors from certain countries, demanding deposits as high as $15,000 for tourist visas to the U.S. Officials stated that this hefty fee was necessary to mitigate visa overstays. Currently, fifty countries are subject to this bond requirement, which was broadened this year.
Among the 50 countries facing the visa bond requirement, five qualified for World Cup participation: Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Tunisia.
Mora Namdar, the leading official in the State Department’s consular affairs division, confirmed that the bond requirement would be waived for ticket-holding fans who had already enrolled in a special system designed to expedite their visa processing. Team members and support staff who qualify can also have the bonds waived, Namdar noted.
“We remain committed to enhancing U.S. national security priorities while supporting legitimate travel for the upcoming World Cup tournament,” she stated in a press release.
The Associated Press was the first to report this story.
The World Cup, one of the world’s premier sporting events, is scheduled to take place in June and July this year across three countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
President Donald Trump’s stringent immigration policies have already cast a shadow over the event, raising alarms about the involvement of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
In the previous year, masked federal agents intensified their presence in U.S. cities to target immigration violators, detaining some tourists at airports.
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The advocacy organization Human Rights Watch in late April urged FIFA to encourage the U.S. government to establish an “ICE Truce” for the World Cup, which would include a public guarantee to suspend immigration enforcement activities at the games and venues.
The Department of Homeland Security reassured that international attendees traveling for the event “have nothing to worry about” as long as they possess legal immigration status.
A system was launched by the U.S. in January to simplify the process for World Cup ticket holders to obtain expedited visas. To be exempt from the bond requirement, ticket holders from the affected countries needed to have registered in that system, referred to as FIFA PASS, by April 15.
