Foreign vacationers to Kansas City’s World Cup video games could get hit with Trump’s new $15,000 entry bonds | KCUR

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the biggest in historical past, with a file variety of groups competing throughout North America, together with Kansas City. Ticket costs are additionally the very best ever, with FIFA touting file demand.

But President Donald Trump’s reissued travel ban and new visa entry bond system threatens to harm turnout, particularly in Kansas City, the place a number of nations affected are set to play and keep in the course of the event.

The Trump administration’s journey ban closely restricts individuals from dozens of nations from visiting the U.S.

“For athletes in these countries, we have an exemption,” stated U.S. Department of State deputy spokesperson Mignon Houston in an interview with KCUR’s Up To Date. “So that’s for athletes, coaches, support, staff, family members, immediate family members – and that’s a spouse, that’s a child.”

In addition, the Trump administration is piloting a system requiring visitors from 50 countries to pay a bond of as much as $15,000 per particular person to enter the U.S.

“This is essentially a security fee for us, in layman’s terms,” Houston stated.

Kansas City will host six games, all at Arrowhead Stadium. And the metro will even function base camps to 4 nationwide groups. In complete, followers and gamers from at the least eight nations may have causes to journey to the area.

Algeria and Tunisia, that are topic to the visa entry bond, are each scheduled to play matches in Kansas City. Algeria’s males’s nationwide staff will even make their base camp in Lawrence, Kansas.

“We recognize that recent visa policies may create questions for some international fans, including those traveling from Tunisia and Algeria,” stated a spokesperson from KC2026, the native organizing physique for the World Cup, in a press release to KCUR.

“It’s important to us that the World Cup remains a truly global and welcoming event,” the assertion continued. “We continue to see high interest in the World Cup in Kansas City, and we’re focused on creating memories for visitors, and sustained and long-term impact for the region.”

The Trump administration says the entry bond is directed at nations from which residents often overstay their visa, or aren’t offering what the State Department deems to be ample data for nationwide safety. The bond is refunded as soon as the customer returns to their nation of origin.

Of the World Cup’s 104 scheduled matches, 78 will happen within the 11 U.S. host cities.

Players and employees for World Cup groups should not exempted from the journey bond — in order that they will even must deposit cash in an effort to enter the U.S. for his or her matches.

KC2026 anticipates that 650,000 guests in the course of the event will generate roughly $653 million to the native financial system.

It’s unknown how the journey ban or visa bonds are anticipated to have an effect on tourism or the attainable financial influence of the event.

“What I hope that American citizens hear from us here at the State Department is, our highest priority is the safety and security of American citizens,” Houston stated. “Before anything else, that is our highest priority.”