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2026 FIFA World Cup
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Tunisia Joins Visa Bond List at 67 Days

2 min read
19:23UTC

Five World Cup nations' fans now face deposits of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, with no automatic exemption for athletes.

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SportAssessed
Key takeaway

Nine World Cup nations' fans now face bonds or outright bans with no athlete exemption confirmed.

The US State Department added Tunisia to the Visa Bond Pilot Programme on 2 April, effective immediately. 1 Five qualified World Cup nations are now subject to bonds of up to ,000 per person: Algeria, Cape Verde, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia.

That sum represents approximately 3 years' average income in all 5 countries. This extends the access barrier first reported when fans from 4 nations faced outright travel bans . The bond programme targets countries with B-1/B-2 visa overstay rates exceeding 10%. Holders of valid visas issued before 2 April are exempt.

No automatic athlete exemption exists. FIFA is "attempting to convince" the Trump administration, but no formal waiver procedure has been established. 2 A State Department spokesperson confirmed that "only a small subset of travellers" will receive exemptions, specifically naming "fans, foreign spectators, media, and corporate sponsors" as groups unlikely to qualify. 3 Combined with outright bans on nationals from Haiti, Iran, Senegal, and Ivory Coast, the tournament's accessibility picture continues to narrow. South Africa waived visa requirements for all World Cup ticket holders in 2010, enabling 300,000 international visitors. The 2026 co-host is moving in the opposite direction.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The United States has a programme that requires citizens of certain countries to pay a deposit of up to $15,000 before they can get a tourist visa. If they return home on time after their visit, they get it back. If they overstay, the government keeps it. Tunisia just became the fifth World Cup nation on this list. For context, $15,000 is roughly three years' average income in Tunisia. This effectively prices most Tunisian fans out of attending the World Cup, even though Tunisia's team qualified and will be playing there.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The Visa Bond Pilot Programme is not a World Cup measure; it was introduced under the Trump administration to reduce visa overstay rates among nationals of high-overstay-rate countries. Its application to World Cup nations is a coincidence of immigration policy timing rather than a deliberate sporting exclusion.

The US government has no formal mechanism to carve out sporting event participants from general immigration policy instruments. FIFA's host agreement with the US did not include binding guarantees on visa access for participant nations' citizens, an oversight now visible in the access crisis.

What could happen next?
  • Risk

    Further expansion of the bond programme could reach Morocco or Senegal's larger diaspora fan bases, compounding the accessibility crisis.

  • Consequence

    FIFA's failure to secure athlete exemptions means the access crisis now extends in principle to players, not just fans.

Sources:Travel and Tour World·Council on Foreign Relations
Mentions:Tunisia →Visa Bond Pilot Programme →Cape Verde →Senegal →FIFA →Tunis →United States →The Guardian →Iran →US State Department →South Africa →Haiti →World Cup →Donald Trump →
First Reported In

Update #5 · Italy Empties Its Federation in 48 Hours

Travel and Tour World· 5 Apr 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
Travel ban bars fans from four nations
Tunisia's addition to the bond programme extends the access crisis that began with outright travel bans on four World Cup nations.
Reported 22 Mar 2026
Read story →
This Event
Tunisia Joins Visa Bond List at 67 Days
The bond programme's expansion to a fifth qualified nation deepens an access crisis that now touches nine World Cup countries through bonds or outright bans.
Different Perspectives
EU Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef
EU Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef
Publicly criticised Infantino after a Brussels meeting produced no safety guarantees for European fans — an institutional escalation that treats FIFA as answerable to European political authorities on operational security.
Iraq national team
Iraq national team
Coach Graham Arnold argued that closed airspace, shuttered embassies and stranded personnel make squad assembly physically impossible, requesting postponement rather than accepting what would be the first conflict-caused qualification forfeit.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE)
Football Supporters Europe (FSE)
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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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Jalisco state government
Jalisco state government
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Jamaica Football Association
Jamaica Football Association
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