Ivorians, Senegalese, Haitians, and the dream of watching their teams’ games at the 2026 World Cup depends on obtaining a visa to travel to the United States, a country that is currently much less willing to receive tourists of certain nationalities.
“Difficulties are coming, judging by what we hear and read in the press, and we are worried,” Djibril Guèye, president of Allez Casa, the Senegalese national team’s fan organization, told AFP. The team will face Kylian Mbappé’s France and Erling Haaland’s Norway in New Jersey.
Donald Trump’s government, which adopted a restrictive immigration policy, froze in January the processing of immigrant visas for 75 countries, including four nations qualified for the World Cup: Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
For the tournament, the White House made exceptions (players and technical committees of the national teams, as well as for their families) and states that this freeze does not affect tourist visas.
The American government has also implemented a “FIFA pass” that allows ticket holders to expedite their appointments at the American embassy. However, “your entry is not a visa,” warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Tickets, bank account
To enter the USA you need to “have flight reservations and a bank account with several million CFA francs”, explains Djibril Guèye.
Guèye emphasizes that the majority of Senegalese fans “do not have these resources”, although the African country’s government organizes the trip and covers “transport, tickets and accommodation”.
Ivory Coast also organizes the arrival of its fans at the World Cup through the CNSE (National Committee of Elephant Supporters), a state body that centralizes demands, submits visa applications to the US embassy and assists with the logistics of the trip.
The president of the CNSE, Julien Adonis Kouadio, said that he expects the participation of “500 fans” in this initiative. Including those already in the United States, between 1,500 and 2,000 Ivorian fans are expected per game.
Fans are also concerned about the presence of ICE (Immigration and Customs Service) in stadiums, responsible for detaining, sometimes violently, undocumented immigrants.
“It’s not the arrival at customs that worries us most, because we are well organized,” adds Kouadio. “But with this safety measure, we run the risk of not experiencing the true spirit of football. We shouldn’t impose too many restrictions that stop people from having fun.”
Police raids
However, they will be able to experience the excitement of the World Cup in Canada, where Ivory Coast and Senegal will play one game each in the group stage.
Haiti, which qualified for the World Cup for the second time in its history, after participating in the 1974 edition in Germany, will play its first group games in the USA.
The Haitian team will need the support of the country’s citizens living in the USA, as Washington suspended the issuance of visas to Haiti, including tourist visas, in June 2025.
Alphonse Occil, a 34-year-old Haitian engineer who lives in New York, got a ticket for the game between Brazil and Haiti, which will take place on June 19 in Philadelphia.
“I took the risk and it paid off,” he said.
But, due to ICE raids, he is afraid to go to the stadium, despite being legally in the USA and having paid US$500 (R$2,500 at current prices) for the ticket. “I hope the authorities take measures to avoid disturbing the atmosphere. The tension needs to decrease,” Occil said.
In 2024, the Haitian community in the US consisted of about 850,000 people, according to official statistics.
This is mainly concentrated in Florida, particularly in the Miami neighborhood known as Little Haiti, in New York, in the Northeast (Delaware, Maryland) and in Ohio (north).
And some of them live between a rock and a hard place, while the Trump administration wants to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which prevents deportations.
Haiti is one of the poorest in the world and plagued by political instability, economic crisis and violence.
