The road to the 2026 North American World Cup, primarily hosted by the United States, has seen a major logistical hurdle cleared thanks to a joint announcement by US President Trump and FIFA President Infantino.
In a meeting held on November 17th at the White House, the two figures introduced the ‘FIFA Pass’, an innovative system designed to ensure that fans from around the world can enter the United States without the delays currently characterizing immigration procedures.
With countries like Colombia securing qualification for the World Cup, many fans who had waited until that moment to begin their applications faced the daunting prospect of waiting periods exceeding two years, meaning their visas would arrive long after the sporting event had concluded.
This situation threatened the massive public turnout expected for the event.
The solution, articulated through the ‘FIFA Pass’, is an express lane that grants priority in consular processing to anyone who has purchased tickets to attend the World Cup matches in the United States.
The presentation of the ‘FIFA Pass’ represents a notable contrast to the overall tone of Donald Trump’s second administration’s immigration policy, which has been defined by the implementation of stringent restrictions, border closures, and plans for mass deportations.
This limited and temporary relaxation is the first of its kind under this administration and underscores the importance the White House attaches to the success of the World Cup.
To facilitate this measure, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported during the meeting that the State Department has “deployed over 400 additional consular officers worldwide to address this situation, in some cases doubling the consular presence in our embassies in certain countries.”
Rubio specified that, thanks to these efforts, 80% of US consulates globally will offer the possibility of securing visa appointments with the assistance of the ‘FIFA Pass’ within just 60 days.
President Donald Trump urged those interested to act quickly: “For those intending to join us at the World Cup, I strongly recommend you apply for your visa immediately.” For his part, Gianni Infantino celebrated the agreement, recalling a previous statement by the president: “You said it the first time we met, Mr. President: America welcomes the world.”
However, immigration authorities made it clear that the ‘FIFA Pass’ speeds up the process but does not guarantee the final outcome. Marco Rubio clarified: “We are going to do the same vetting as anyone else would receive. The only difference here is that we are moving them up in the queue.”
The scale of the event and the expected volume of visitors are crucial to understanding this decision.
Infantino announced that between five and ten million people are projected to visit the United States during the World Cup. President Trump supplemented this estimate with economic data, projecting that the event could create 185,000 full-time jobs, generate approximately 30 billion dollars in revenue, and contribute a significant 17.2 billion dollars to the US gross domestic product.
The United States is the key country in the organization of the 2026 World Cup, hosting the majority of matches: 78 of the 104 fixtures will be played in one of its 11 host cities. Mexico and Canada, the other two venues, will host 13 matches each.
The strong demand was confirmed in mid-October when FIFA reported that the first one million tickets offered had sold out entirely to citizens from 212 countries, despite the dynamic pricing scheme.
In total, six million tickets will be offered across the three venues. Securing this favorable immigration agreement for fans was the result of intense efforts by Infantino.
The FIFA leader actively sought to prevent the world’s largest sporting event from being jeopardized by the rigid immigration policies of the Trump administration.
This effort included a delicate maneuver to preemptively halt a vote within UEFA that sought to suspend Israel from club competitions, in retaliation for its campaign in Gaza.
A sanction of that nature, similar to that imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, would have compromised Infantino’s attempts to secure the cooperation of the United States government for the immigration flexibility that has now materialized with the ‘FIFA Pass’.
