WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration is suspending a requirement that foreign visitors from certain countries pay as much as $15,000 in bonds if they are confirmed World Cup ticket holders, the State Department told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The department last year for countries that it said had and other security issues as part of the Republican administration鈥檚 broader crackdown on immigration. to pay the new bond, and five of those countries 鈥� Algeria, Cabo Verde, C么te d鈥橧voire, Senegal and Tunisia.
鈥淭he United States is excited to organize the biggest and best FIFA World Cup in history,” Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar said. 鈥淲e are waiving visa bonds for qualified fans who bought World Cup tickets” and opted in to the that allows expedited visa appointments as of April 15.
The waiver is a rare loosening of immigration requirements under the administration and will for at least some visitors to the U.S. for the World Cup, which begins June 11 and is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
World Cup team players, coaches and some staff already were exempt from the bond requirement as part of the administration鈥檚 orders to prioritize the processing of visas for the tournament. Ordinary fans, even if they had confirmed tickets, had not been exempt until Wednesday.
The administration has taken dramatic steps to restrict immigration in ways that with the type of unifying message that a global sporting event such as the World Cup is supposed to project.
For instance, the administration has barred travelers from Iran and Haiti, though World Cup players, coaches and other support personnel are exempt. Travelers from C么te d鈥橧voire and Senegal, also World Cup qualifiers, face partial restrictions under an expanded version of that travel ban.
Foreign travelers also are to submit their social media histories, while the administration had deployed agents at airports recently when Transportation Security Administration personnel were not being paid.
Those measures and dozens of U.S. civil and human rights groups to issue a 鈥淲orld Cup travel advisory” that warns travelers about the climate in the U.S.
In a report this month, the main advocacy group for U.S. hotels blamed visa barriers and other geopolitical issues for 鈥渟ignificantly suppressing international demand,鈥� leading to hotel bookings for the soccer tournament that are far below what had initially been anticipated.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association said travelers are concerned about potentially lengthy visa wait times and increased fees, along with uncertainty about how they’re being processed to enter the U.S.
The larger effort to clamp down on migrants who travel to the U.S. on temporary visas but then overstay them. Visa applicants from the affected countries are required to pay $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 in bonds, which will be refunded if the traveler complies with the terms of the visa or if the visa application is denied.
As of early April, the number of World Cup fans affected by the bond requirement was believed to be relatively small, perhaps only about 250 people, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. But they said that number was changing rapidly as more people buy tickets and some with tickets opt against traveling.
FIFA had requested the waiver, which had to be approved by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, and was the topic of discussion at multiple meetings at the White House and elsewhere in Washington for several months, the officials said.
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