BBC – When Iraq’s soccer workforce certified for the World Cup on the finish of March, Abdulla Adnan purchased tickets for his nation’s matches in opposition to Norway and France, which will likely be performed within the US cities of Boston and Philadelphia this month.
“To go to a match, a stadium, a crowd, cheering, and see my workforce – that’s well worth the world to me,” he says. “It is a feeling that no different feeling can examine to.” That is solely the second time Iraq has certified for the World Cup – the primary was in 1986.
However getting a visa is proving troublesome.
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And Adnan is just not alone. Followers from greater than 1 / 4 of the international locations participating within the World Cup are going through journey bans, tighter restrictions or excessive visa rejection charges, evaluation of journey information by the BBC World Service reveals.
Nonetheless, Iraq is just not on Trump’s journey ban checklist, so in Adnan’s case, the impediment was an sudden one.
After the beginning of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, the US suspended routine consular companies in Iraq attributable to considerations about safety within the area. This implies there may be nowhere within the nation the place Adnan and different Iraqi followers can get visas, as they must attend an in-person interview.
So Adnan travelled to neighbouring Jordan to attempt to get a visa on the US embassy there. However when he arrived for his appointment, workers informed him that as a result of he wasn’t a Jordanian citizen, that embassy couldn’t give him a visa.
The tickets for the match and the journey to Jordan value him about $1,800 (£1,300).
Adnan thought of making use of for visa in Turkey, however the course of might take as much as two weeks, he determined that he could not spend that a lot time away from residence. He has given up on making an attempt to get a visa.
Followers from a number of international locations have informed the BBC World Service that different obstacles are additionally inflicting widespread anger and upset.
One of many limitations is President Trump’s checklist with bans and larger restrictions on visas for sure international locations, together with 4 competing on the World Cup – Haiti, Iran, Senegal and Ivory Coast. This implies their residents are barred from receiving the kind of customer visa that US authorities suggest for followers.
Strict immigration insurance policies and a clampdown on undocumented migrants have been a key a part of Trump’s re-election marketing campaign in 2024. US authorities say their system must be rigorous as a result of challenges they face in managing the large movement of those who cross the nation’s borders.
Julien Kouadio Adonis from the Ivory Coast’s fan affiliation, the Nationwide Committee for the Assist of the Elephants says: “It is a type of segregation that does not dare communicate its identify, however the proof is there.
“No European nation has confronted this sort of restriction. Why Africa?”
His affiliation usually sends a gaggle of followers to the World Cup however determined to not hassle even making an attempt to go to the US due to the laws.
Though he’s relieved they’ll keep away from what he known as “exorbitant” ticket costs, Adonis believes a rustic that does not wish to welcome supporters from qualifying groups should not be allowed to host the World Cup.
“Soccer is a spectacle and a spectacle wants individuals watching,” he says.
Forty-two usually wealthier international locations profit from a visa waiver programme, the place functions are made on-line via the US’s Digital System for Journey Authorization (Esta). This prices about $40 (£30). There aren’t any African international locations on this checklist.
The visa that the US recommends for World Cup followers who want one prices $185 (£137) and candidates should attend an in-person interview. The State Division says they need to exhibit “your intent to depart america after your journey, and/ or your potential to pay all prices of the journey”.
Nonetheless, in Could the US introduced it might drop the requirement for deposits of as much as $15,000 (£11,000) for individuals from World Cup qualifying international locations Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia, offered they’ve legitimate World Cup tickets. Supporters from Senegal and Ivory Coast needed to safe visas earlier than December, after which the restrictions started.
Seneglese fan Aliou Ngom has been to the final two World Cups in Qatar and Russia. For him, one of many highlights of the event is seeing “cultures coming collectively from everywhere in the world”.
A coaching camp within the US for Senegal’s girls’s basketball workforce was cancelled final 12 months when a number of gamers have been denied a visa, and like Adonis, Ngom thought there was little level him making use of for a visa as fan.
BBC evaluation of US State Division information discovered that the visa rejection price for residents of 11 of the 48 international locations which have certified for the World Cup was greater than 40%. This consists of candidates of all types, not simply World Cup hopefuls.
That compares to a median rejection price for B1 enterprise and B2 vacationer visa functions – the kind beneficial for followers going to the event – from all international locations of 34%.
The information covers the 12 months from October 2024 to the tip of September 2025, so doesn’t absorb 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 the Congo, Ghana and Senegal.
A bar chart exhibiting the 11 international locations with visa rejection charges over 40% with their respective refusal charges. Senegal is the very best at over 70% then Ghana, DR Congo, Iran, Jordan, Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Haiti, Egypt and at last Ecuador at simply over 40%.
With a excessive rejection price, it’s onerous for followers from these international locations to know whether or not to threat spending some huge cash on match tickets earlier than making use of for a visa, which they may not get.
In the event that they do purchase tickets instantly from Fifa, they will resell them on the Fifa web site for a charge in the event that they want and might use the Fifa Cross system to hurry up the visa utility course of.
“Fifa Cross is a constructive step as a result of it tries to maneuver ticket holders into precedence visa interview appointments,” says Celine Atallah, who runs an immigration regulation agency primarily based close to Boston in Massachusetts.
However she provides that whereas it makes the method quicker, it does not make it any extra doubtless a visa will likely be accredited.
“The visa system is the invisible gatekeeper of the World Cup,” Atallah says. “Fifa can promote a ticket, however the US authorities decides who will get a visa, and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] decides who truly enters.”
Even with a visa, anybody travelling to the US is just not assured entry on arrival, as border officers can nonetheless flip individuals away.
Abu Kass is the pinnacle of the soccer fan affiliation for Jordan, a rustic the place 57% of visa functions for the US have been refused within the 12 months to the tip of September 2025.
“They have been rejecting individuals over the previous three to 4 months,” he says, including that he does not know of a single supporter who has acquired a visa. The Jordanian supporters affiliation within the US informed the BBC it solely knew of 1 Jordanian fan who had acquired a visa.
Kass says he took greater than 42 paperwork with him to his visa appointment within the Jordanian capital Amman, the place his utility was rejected. The US doesn’t give a cause when it refuses a visa.
“This World Cup is just not ours,” says Kass. “It isn’t for Arabs this World Cup, it is for them. If the pinnacle of the fan affiliation was refused, who will likely be accepted?”
A State Division spokesman informed the BBC that the administration was “ready to welcome guests from across the globe for the biggest and best Fifa World Cup in historical past” and that “most abroad followers didn’t want to make use of Fifa Cross as a result of they’re nationals of Canada or one of many 42 international locations that qualify for visa-free journey” or already held a visa.
It mentioned that in each case “we’ll take the time vital to make sure an applicant doesn’t pose a threat to the protection and safety of america” and that “we adjudicate every visa utility on a case-by-case foundation after rigorous evaluate and thorough vetting to find out whether or not the person is eligible below US regulation”.
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The Division of Homeland Safety is anxious about individuals remaining within the nation after visas have expired and says there have been greater than 538,000 “overstay occasions” between October 2023 and September 2024. The Pew Analysis Heart estimates that in 2023, earlier than President Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants, there have been 14 million immigrants residing illegally within the US.
International locations that hosted the final 4 World Cups arrange particular visa methods for followers, though approval for journey paperwork was nonetheless not assured.
Canada and Mexico are joint hosts of the event, however 78 of the 104 matches, together with the ultimate, will likely be performed in cities throughout the US.
Canada and Mexico’s personal immigration and visa schemes differ from these within the US. Neither have issued journey bans for particular international locations, though Canada, just like the US, has lately put entry restrictions on international locations affected by the latest Ebola outbreak in Africa, which incorporates World Cup qualifiers Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Canada requires individuals to submit biometric information for visa functions and there are two international locations that certified for the World Cup, Iran and Cape Verde, the place Canada doesn’t have any services the place individuals might be scanned.
Canada doesn’t break down visa refusal charges by visa sort or nation but it surely’s total price for 2025 was 54%.
Mexico doesn’t publish visa refusal information. It requires candidates to use in-person at an embassy or consulate. Of the international locations that certified for the World Cup there are eight – Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia and Iraq – the place Mexico doesn’t have a diplomatic presence for individuals to go to.