US waives $15,000 visa bond requirement for FIFA ticket holders from 50 flagged countries- Check full list

World Cup fans from countries hit with steep US visa bond requirements will get a pass, at least for the tournament. The Trump administration confirmed Wednesday it will waive the up to $15,000 bond requirement for ticket-holding fans from nations flagged for high rates of visa overstays, provided they have registered through the proper channel.

The bonds, introduced last year and expanded in 2025, currently apply to visitors from 50 countries and were designed to deter visa overstays. Five of those 50 countries have teams qualified for the World Cup: Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia.

Mora Namdar, the top official in the State Department's consular affairs division, confirmed the waiver would apply to fans who had already registered through FIFA PASS, a system the US launched in January to expedite visa processing for tournament ticket holders. The registration deadline for the waiver was April 15. Qualifying team members and staff are also eligible.

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"We remain committed to strengthening U.S. national security priorities while facilitating legitimate travel for the upcoming World Cup tournament," Namdar said in a statement.

A shadow over the tournament

The announcement comes against a fraught backdrop. President Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown has hung over the World Cup's preparations for months, raising concerns about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at venues. Last year, masked federal agents surged into US cities to track down immigration offenders and detained some tourists at airports, images that did little to reassure international visitors.

In late April, Human Rights Watch called on FIFA to press the US government to establish an "ICE Truce" for the duration of the tournament, including a public guarantee to refrain from immigration enforcement operations at games and venues. The Department of Homeland Security pushed back, stating that international visitors travelling for the games "have nothing to worry about" if they have legal immigration status.

The World Cup runs in June and July across three host nations, the United States, Canada and Mexico, and remains one of the globe's biggest sporting events. Whether the visa waiver announcement is enough to ease lingering anxieties among fans from affected nations remains to be seen.

Full list of flagged nations:

1. Cambodia

2. Ethiopia

3. Georgia

4. Grenada

5. Lesotho

6. Mauritius

7. Mongolia

8. Mozambique

9. Nicaragua

10. Papua New Guinea

11. Seychelles

12. Tunisia

13. Algeria

14. Angola

15. Antigua and Barbuda

16. Bangladesh

17. Benin

18. Bhutan

19. Botswana

20. Burundi

21. Cabo Verde

22. Central African Republic

23. Côte d’Ivoire

24. Cuba

25. Djibouti

26. Dominica

27. Fiji

28. Gabon

29. The Gambia

30. Guinea

31. Guinea-Bissau

32. Kyrgyzstan

33. Malawi

34. Mauritania

35. Namibia

36. Nepal

37. Nigeria

38. São Tomé and Príncipe

39. Senegal

40. Tajikistan

41. Tanzania

42. Togo

43. Tonga

44. Turkmenistan

45. Tuvalu

46. Uganda

47. Vanuatu

48. Venezuela

49. Zambia

50. Zimbabwe