The Executive Director of the White House Task Force responsible for organizing the World Cup, Andrew Giuliani, announced today, Wednesday in Washington, that the waiting period for a U.S. visa in Morocco has been reduced from ten months to just two months, in anticipation of the 2026 World Cup jointly held by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The senior U.S. official clarified during a press conference ahead of the World Cup draw ceremony, scheduled for Friday in the U.S. capital, that this represents a reduction of “more than 80 percent compared to the waiting times recorded in November 2024 for Moroccans wishing to obtain a visa to the United States.”
Mr. Giuliani mentioned that Morocco is among the countries that will jointly host the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Spain, expressing his satisfaction with the reduction in American visa wait times, which will benefit fans and supporters of the Moroccan national team wishing to travel to the United States next summer to attend the World Cup matches.
He pointed out that this effort is in addition to a system that gives priority for visa appointments to holders of World Cup 2026 tickets (FIFA Pass), which was recently announced by President Donald Trump.
In this regard, he explained that the U.S. State Department has hired more than 450 additional employees to facilitate and expedite the process of obtaining U.S. visas, especially for citizens of the countries qualified in the 2026 World Cup, “the largest sporting event in U.S. history.”
Thus, about 300,000 additional visa appointment slots have been added for the qualifying countries, with expectations that this number will reach several million additional appointments by the beginning of next year.
The Executive Director of the White House Task Force concluded that the United States expects to host between five million and seven million visitors during this global sporting event, scheduled to take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026, with competitions held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
