The 2026 Men’s Football World Cup will be co-hosted by the trio the United States, Canada and Mexico. The tournament will be played between 48 teams with 104 matches. Out of these, 78 of them will be played in the 11 cities of the US.
The 2026 World Cup is going to start in 17 months. 6 million fans from across the globe will flood North America for the event. FIFA President, Gianni Infantino has promised that it will be “the most inclusive World Cup ever”. The World Cup tickets will go on sale at the end of this year. It will leave fans from Non EU countries with less than 6 months to prepare for the paperwork and secure visa.
However, millions of people are concerned about being not allowed to enter the United States amid high visa processing wait time. The countries who are not eligible for the US Visa waiver program have to go through an interview for the visa. The wait time for India, Columbia and Nigeria is beyond 300 days. It leaves supporters in chaos.
“It’s going to be a massive problem,” David J. Bier, the associate director for immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian public policy research organization, was quoted as saying. “There’s no one paying attention to this at all.”
The Department of State, who is responsible for processing the visas, has assured to lower those wait times. The President Donald Trump, who was the serving President of United States while submitting the bid for 2026 World Cup had signed a letter to Infantino that stated “I am confident … that all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination”
The earlier World Cup hosted countries Qatar and Russia had a streamlined process for ticket holders. However, the US has not announced any plans yet.
