With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to kick off in just under five months, the Department of State has officially launched the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (FIFA PASS) – a new program designed to expedite visa interviews for international ticket holders while maintaining national security standards.
Announced in November 2025 during a high-profile White House event featuring President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, FIFA PASS is meant to represent a proactive step to handle the massive influx of visitors expected for the games – as well as somewhat of a partnership between America’s leaders and the tournament’s organizers.
The visa system allows those who have purchased tickets directly from FIFA to opt in and schedule their own prioritized visa appointments ahead of the tournament’s June 11 start date, helping to avoid last-minute bottlenecks at U.S. embassies and consulates.
“This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the beauty and the greatness of America. And we can’t wait to welcome soccer fans from all over the globe,” Trump wrote in a press release announcing the guidelines for the visa program.
According to those guidelines, applicants must demonstrate that they qualify for a nonimmigrant visa, intend to comply with all U.S. laws, and plan to leave the U.S. after the tournament ends on July 19.
Scheduling an interview does not guarantee visa approval; every applicant will undergo thorough security vetting and background checks before being allowed into the United States.
The visa strategy comes after FIFA reported record-breaking ticket sales, as previously reported by The Dallas Express, and now anticipates that 5 to 10 million international visitors will flock to host cities across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
To improve the processing capacity for all these football fans, the State Department is deploying hundreds of additional staff members to handle these applications.
A state department press release reads, “The United States Department of State is surging over 450 extra staffers to consulates around the world to make sure that we can continue to decrease these appointment times. And we’ve already created an additional 300,000 additional visas, and that number is projected to be in the millions by early next year, and hopefully by tournament time even more.”
While a recent pause on immigrant visa issuances was announced on January 14, State Department officials have clarified that it does not affect nonimmigrant categories such as those for tourists and World Cup attendees. For fans from visa-waiver countries, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization remains an option, hopefully further simplifying the entry process for “low-risk” travelers.
