Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, US embassies across the world are prioritising those who purchased a ticket for one of the matches for visa appointments. Waiting times have been heavily shortened, but officials warn that a ticket is no guarantee of obtaining a visa.
President of the United States Donald Trump has unveiled the so-called FIFA Prioritised Appointment Scheduling System, allowing visitors of the 2026 World Cup to be fast-tracked for a visa appointment.
The event, which will take place across different cities in the US, Mexico, and Canada from 11 June to 19 July 2026, is set to attract football fans from around the world. While many of those attending the matches will be domestic, FIFA has shared that so far, people from 212 different countries have bought tickets for the 2026 World Cup. According to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, between five and 10 million people would be coming to America for the event.
⚽️💥 A record-breaking 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming soon!
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 18, 2025
More than $30 BILLION projected for the U.S. economy as President Donald J. Trump teams up with FIFA President Gianni Infantino for the greatest tournament ever. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/YbYv1pt9f2
Some details left unclear
While travellers from some 42 countries are allowed to travel to the US for tourism or business reasons for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa, many others do need to go through the usual visa obtaining programme. With less than a year to go until the start of the event, action was needed in order to make sure that all 2026 World Cup-related demands could be handled.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced the "FIFA Pass," which he says is a "prioritized appointment scheduling system" for World Cup ticket holders to obtain visas, during an event with President Trump on Monday. https://t.co/ZgLmioCLuj pic.twitter.com/WIfjLVKiYQ
— ABC News (@ABC) November 17, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has shared that more than 400 additional consular officers have been deployed to handle World Cup-related visa requests, as part of the FIFA Prioritised Appointment Scheduling System. This measure has reportedly allowed for the waiting times to diminish – according to Rubio, an appointment can now be scheduled in less than 60 days in 80% of the world. The Secretary of State also specified that a ticket to the event was not a guarantee of obtaining a visa.
President Donald Trump said the US is creating a priority visa system for 2026 FIFA World Cup ticket holders to handle the large number of visitors expected for the soccer event https://t.co/A54w3uRG1f pic.twitter.com/MIf9xalzPP
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) November 17, 2025
“Your ticket is not a visa. It doesn’t guarantee admission to the US. It guarantees you an expedited appointment. You’re still going to go through the same vetting. We’re going to do the same vetting as anybody else would get. The only difference here is we’re moving them up in the queue”, Rubio stated.
However, despite the announcement, some uncertainty remains about those countries where waiting times for a visa appointment are still long (in Colombia, for example, people are facing an 11-month waiting time, while non-Canadian citizen residents of Toronto are currently up for 14 months) and about countries whose citizens have recently been banned or partially restricted from entering the US.
