Iraqi fan Abdullah Adnan was unable to acquire a visa to journey to the US to look at his nation’s video games.
When Iraq’s soccer crew certified for the World Cup in late March, Abdullah Adnan purchased tickets for matches in opposition to his native Norway and France, to be performed this month within the American cities of Boston and Philadelphia.
“Going to the sport, going to the stadium, going to the gang, cheering, watching your crew, that is well worth the world to me,” he says. “It is a feeling that may’t be matched by some other feeling.” That is the second time Iraq has certified for the World Cup, the primary being in 1986.
Nonetheless, acquiring a visa is extraordinarily tough.
And Adnan is just not alone. An evaluation of journey knowledge by the BBC World Service has revealed that followers in additional than 1 / 4 of World Cup international locations face journey bans, elevated restrictions and excessive charges of visa refusals.
However Iraq is just not on President Trump’s journey ban record, so in Adnan’s case the hurdle was surprising.
After the beginning of the US-Israel warfare with Iran, the US suspended common consular operations in Iraq attributable to regional safety considerations. This implies there may be nowhere for Adnan and different Iraq followers to acquire visas within the nation, as they must attend interviews in individual.
So Adnan went to neighboring Jordan and tried to get a visa on the U.S. embassy there. Nonetheless, when he arrived on the appointed time, the official informed him that the embassy couldn’t difficulty him a visa as a result of he was not a Jordanian citizen.
Tickets to the match and the journey to Jordan price about $1,800 (£1,300).
Adnan thought-about making use of for a visa in Turkey, however for the reason that course of might take as much as two weeks, he determined he couldn’t spend that a lot time away from residence. He gave up on getting a visa.
Followers in a number of international locations informed the BBC World Service that different obstacles had been additionally inflicting widespread anger and upset.
One hurdle is President Trump’s record of elevated visa bans and restrictions for sure international locations, together with the 4 World Cup individuals: Haiti, Iran, Senegal and Ivory Coast. This implies residents are prohibited from receiving the kind of customer visas that US authorities suggest for followers.
Robust immigration insurance policies and a crackdown on unlawful immigration had been a key a part of President Trump’s 2024 re-election marketing campaign. U.S. officers say they should tighten the system as they face challenges managing the massive circulate of individuals throughout the border.
“This can be a type of racism that dares not say its title, however the proof is there,” stated Julien Quadio Adonis, head of the Ivorian fan affiliation Nationwide Committee for Help of Elephants.
“No nation in Europe has confronted such restrictions. Why Africa?”
His affiliation often sends teams of followers to the World Cup, however determined to not hassle going to the US due to laws.
Whereas Adonis is relieved to keep away from what he calls “exorbitant” ticket costs, he does not suppose international locations that do not wish to welcome supporters of qualifying groups needs to be allowed to host the World Cup.
“Soccer is a spectacle, and a spectacle wants individuals to look at,” he says.
Forty-two typically rich international locations profit from the Visa Waiver Program, the place purposes are submitted on-line by the U.S. Digital System for Journey Authorization (ESTA). This can price round $40 (£30). There are not any African international locations on this record.
The US-recommended visa for World Cup followers prices $185 (£137) and requires candidates to attend an in-person interview. The State Division says they might want to exhibit “their intent to depart the US after their journey and/or their means to pay the total price of their journey.”
Nonetheless, in Could, the US introduced it will take away the $15,000 (£11,000) deposit requirement for gamers from World Cup collaborating international locations Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia, supplied they maintain a legitimate World Cup ticket. Supporters from Senegal and Ivory Coast had till December to acquire visas, after which restrictions started.
Senegalese fan Aliou Ngom has performed within the final two World Cups in Qatar and Russia. For him, one of many highlights of the event is seeing “cultures from all around the world come collectively.”
The Senegalese ladies’s basketball crew’s coaching camp in the US was canceled final 12 months after a number of gamers had been denied visas, however Gong, like Adonis, noticed little level in making use of for visas as a fan.
A BBC evaluation of US State Division knowledge discovered that 11 of the 48 international locations that certified for the World Cup had visa refusal charges above 40%. This contains all varieties of candidates, not simply World Cup hopefuls.
By comparability, the common rejection price for B1 enterprise visa and B2 vacationer visa purposes (the kind really useful for tournament-going followers) from throughout the nation is 34%.
The information covers the one 12 months interval from October 2024 to the top of September 2025, so it doesn’t take into consideration soccer followers who utilized within the final eight months. The 11 international locations are Ecuador, Egypt, Haiti, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, Jordan, Iran, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and Senegal.
The excessive rejection price makes it tough for followers from these international locations to know whether or not they need to threat spending giant sums of cash on match tickets earlier than making use of for a visa, which they might not be capable to acquire.
If you buy tickets instantly from FIFA, you possibly can resell them for a payment on FIFA’s web site if you want, and you can too use the FIFA Go system to hurry up the visa utility course of.
“FIFA Go is a optimistic step geared toward transferring ticket holders to precedence visa interview appointments,” stated Celine Atala, who runs an immigration regulation agency based mostly close to Boston, Massachusetts.
Nonetheless, she added that whereas this is able to velocity up the method, it will not improve the possibilities of a visa being accredited.
“The visa system is the invisible gatekeeper of the World Cup,” Atallah stated. “FIFA can promote tickets, nevertheless it’s the U.S. authorities that decides who will get the visa, and CBP (Customs and Border Safety) decides who really will get into the nation.”
Even with a visa, individuals touring to the US will not be assured entry upon arrival, as border officers could flip individuals away.
Abu Kass is the president of the Jordanian Soccer Followers Affiliation, which had 57% of visa purposes to the US rejected within the 12 months to the top of September 2025.
“They have been denying individuals for the previous three or 4 months,” he stated, including that he does not know of a single donor who has obtained a visa. The Jordan Supporters Affiliation in the US informed the BBC that it was conscious of just one Jordanian fan who had obtained a visa.
Kass stated she took greater than 42 paperwork to a visa appointment in Jordan’s capital Amman, the place her utility was rejected. When the US denies visas, it doesn’t give causes.
“This World Cup is just not ours,” Kass stated. “This World Cup is just not for Arabs, it is for them. If the president of the fan affiliation is rejected, who shall be accepted?”
A State Division spokesperson informed the BBC that the federal government was “able to welcome guests from around the globe for the most important and greatest FIFA World Cup in historical past,” including: “Most worldwide followers had been both Canadian residents, nationals of one of many 42 international locations eligible for visa-free journey, or already had visas, so there was no want to make use of a FIFA Go.”
In every case, it stated it will “take the time essential to make sure that the applicant doesn’t pose a threat to the protection and safety of the US,” and that “every visa utility undergoes a rigorous overview and thorough overview to find out whether or not the person is eligible beneath U.S. regulation.”
The Division of Homeland Safety is worried about individuals remaining within the nation after their visas expire, saying there have been greater than 538,000 “overstays” between October 2023 and September 2024. Pew Analysis Middle estimates that in 2023, earlier than President Trump cracked down on unlawful immigration, there have been 14 million immigrants in the US illegally.
The international locations which have hosted the final 4 World Cups have arrange particular visa regimes for followers, however approval of journey paperwork was not but assured.
Canada and Mexico will co-host the event, however 78 of the 104 video games, together with the ultimate, shall be performed in cities throughout the US.
Canada and Mexico’s personal immigration and visa programs differ from these in the US. Neither has issued a journey ban on any particular international locations, however Canada, like the US, has just lately positioned entry restrictions on international locations in Africa just lately affected by the Ebola outbreak, together with World Cup participant Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Canada requires biometric knowledge to be submitted when making use of for a visa, and though Iran and Cape Verde are two international locations which have certified for the World Cup, Canada doesn’t have amenities that may scan individuals.
Canada doesn’t break down its visa denial price by visa sort or nation, however the general denial price in 2025 was 54%.
Mexico doesn’t publish knowledge on visa denials. Candidates should apply in individual on the embassy or consulate. Of the international locations that certified for the World Cup, Mexico doesn’t have a diplomatic presence for its residents to go to eight of them: Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia and Iraq.
