{"id":64315,"date":"2025-11-18T21:40:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T21:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup"},"modified":"2025-11-18T22:15:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:15:48","slug":"fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup","title":{"rendered":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span><b>FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priority access to U.S. visa interview appointments.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Presented at the White House in the presence of President Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and Gianni Infantino, the program aims to simplify the visa process for millions of fans expected in 2026. Beginning early next year, supporters with purchased tickets will be able to request accelerated visa appointments, while travelers from Visa Waiver countries will continue using ESTA. The announcement reflects a growing partnership between FIFA and U.S. authorities to manage an event of unprecedented global scale.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 World Cup, spread across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is projected to break attendance and economic records. With more than six million tickets available and 78 matches in the United States alone, the tournament is expected to generate over $30 billion in output and create 185,000 full-time jobs, according to a joint FIFA\u2013WTO report.<\/p>\n<p>By easing entry procedures\u2014especially for supporters from countries with strained relations with Washington, such as Iran, Mexico, and Colombia\u2014the FIFA PASS aims to ensure a more inclusive, accessible, and secure tournament, reinforcing the United States\u2019 commitment to successfully hosting the biggest World Cup in history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Lesotho<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priority access to U.S. visa interview appointments. Presented at the White House in the presence of President Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and Gianni Infantino, the program aims to simplify the visa [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-64315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priorit ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priorit ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T21:40:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T22:15:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-18T21:40:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T22:15:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\",\"name\":\"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-18T21:40:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T22:15:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priorit ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":513,\"caption\":\"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup - Lesotho","description":"FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priorit ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup","og_description":"FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priorit ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-11-18T21:40:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-18T22:15:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":513,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup","datePublished":"2025-11-18T21:40:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T22:15:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup"},"wordCount":231,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup","name":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-18T21:40:46+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T22:15:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"FIFA and the U.S. State Department have unveiled FIFA PASS, a new system that grants World Cup ticket holders priorit ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763491316.8553.jpg","width":720,"height":513,"caption":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/fifa-launches-priority-visa-system-for-2026-world-cup#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FIFA Launches Priority Visa System for 2026 World Cup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}