#visa-bonds

#visa-bonds

Late on Wednesday, the Trump administration confirmed that ticket-holding supporters from Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia will be exempt from the requirement to post a visa deposit. The five were among 50 countries swept up in the requirement, introduced last year, which is intended to reduce visa overstays and was part of a wider immigration crackdown by the White House. With 78 of the 104 games at this year's World Cup taking place on American soil, the climbdown matters.

The United States has announced exemptions from visa bond payment requirements for FIFA World Cup ticket holders whose teams have qualified for the soccer tournament. In 2025, the Trump administration began requiring visitors to the US from certain countries to pay bonds of between $5,000 (4,300) and $15,000 to obtain a tourist visa. The bond requirement scheme was expanded in 2026 to include 50 countries. Five of the 50 countries subject to visa bonds qualified for the World Cup: Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia.

The State Department says the bonds are designed to deter visitors from overstaying their visas for tourism or business, citing a 2024 DHS fiscal report that analyzed estimated overstay rates by country. State of play: Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia and Turkmenistan have been subject to the bond requirement since Jan. 1, built off the State Department's pilot program launched in August 2025.

The US State Department has announced it will require travellers from certain countries to pay bonds of up to $15,000 to enter the United States. This pilot programme targets B-1 business and B-2 tourism visas, starting August 20, focusing on countries with historically high visa overstays.