Paraguay fans resell World Cup tickets after U.S. visitor visa denials

Why Paraguayan fans are dumping World Cup tickets

Paraguayan fans holding 2026 World Cup tickets are reselling them through FIFA's official channels after being denied U.S. visitor visas, according to reporting from early June. The U.S. Embassy in Asunción has been clear on the point: a match ticket isn't a visa and standard B1/B2 rules apply to anyone traveling from Paraguay for tournament matches on U.S. soil.

Paraguay isn't part of the Visa Waiver Program, so almost every fan needs a nonimmigrant visitor visa, an in-person interview at the embassy and document review before boarding a flight. The embassy warns applicants that visa fees are nonrefundable if the application is refused and that wait times for the next available appointment can stretch out significantly.

Who gets caught in this

Ticket holders who bought before securing a visa are taking the hardest hit. FIFA's official ticketing and resale platform is the only authorized way to recover those costs, so private resales carry no protection.

The same rules cover anyone from Paraguay entering the U.S. short-term:

• Tourists attending matches in U.S. host cities

• Remote workers and expats scouting the U.S. for meetings or relocation

• Family members traveling with ticket holders

The embassy specifically tells applicants not to book non-refundable travel until the visa is physically in hand.

How to handle a denial or pending application

Applicants who haven't yet interviewed should register the appointment online through the embassy portal and bring full documentation to the interview. Fees paid to the U.S. government and any third-party service providers won't be returned if the visa is refused.

Fans who already received a denial have limited options:

• List the ticket through FIFA's official resale platform, subject to availability windows

• Avoid private or third-party resale sites, which fall outside FIFA's authorized channels

• Reapply only with materially changed circumstances, since repeat denials on identical facts are common

The embassy continues to flag administrative processing as a possible delay even for approved cases, so anyone still in the queue should treat the visa, not the ticket, as the gating item for any U.S. trip this summer.