President Donald Trump has introduced a new system that gives foreign fans with tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup priority access to visa interview appointments at United States embassies.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Donald Trump said the FIFA Prioritised Appointment Scheduling System, known as Pass, will allow supporters facing long wait times to request earlier visa interviews. The tournament will take place next June and July across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Trump said the goal is to help fans secure interview dates in time for the event while still maintaining routine vetting. “Your ticket is not a visa; it doesn’t guarantee admission to the US,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “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 said ticket-holders can expect interview appointments within six to eight weeks of applying, a major shift for fans in countries where the backlog stretches close to a year or more.
Current wait times published by the State Department show applicants in Colombia waiting about 11 months for appointments. In Mexico City, the wait is around nine and a half months. Some non-Canadian residents in Toronto face waits of up to 14 months.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who joined Trump and Rubio in the Oval Office, said the new system would make it easier for legitimate fans to enter the country. “With this FIFA Pass, we can make sure that those who buy a ticket, who are legitimate football fans or soccer fans, can come and attend the World Cup in the best conditions, starting from getting their visa,” he said.
Infantino added that between five and ten million visitors could travel to the United States for matches. FIFA has already sold more than one million tickets to fans from 212 countries.
The US Travel Association welcomed the move, describing the updated process as “needed efficiency” that would help the country manage the expected surge in visitors. Its CEO, Geoff Freeman, said the measure “strengthens security, increases capacity and cuts wait times.”
It is unclear how the new system will apply to nationals of countries affected by Trump’s June executive order that blocks citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States. Iran, which has qualified for the World Cup, is among those listed. The order exempts athletes and coaching staff but does not extend the exemption to supporters.
The State Department has not yet commented on whether those restrictions will remain in place for fans who have purchased tickets.
Trump said his administration had already reduced visa wait times for most countries to 60 days or less and estimated that the World Cup could generate about 30 billion dollars for the US economy and create 200,000 jobs. Rubio added that 400 additional consular officers have been deployed worldwide to handle the increased demand.
Fans from countries under the US visa waiver programme will not need visas to enter the United States. Travellers from much of Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and several other countries can visit for up to 90 days without applying for one.
Unlike Russia and Qatar, which issued fan identification cards that doubled as entry documents, the United States will rely on its existing visa process but give ticket-holders a faster path to securing interview appointments.
