Months before the first whistle blows at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a mounting visa processing crisis at Canada’s immigration agency is casting a long shadow over one of the most anticipated sporting events in modern history and for fans from some countries, particularly across Africa, the window to secure legal entry may already have closed.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal agency responsible for issuing visitor visas and travel authorizations, is grappling with a dangerous convergence of pressures: a roughly 20 percent reduction in its workforce, a dramatic surge in application volumes tied directly to the tournament, and a pre-existing backlog that has plagued the department for years. The result is processing delays that, in some cases, stretch well beyond a calendar year far longer than the time that has elapsed since Canada’s match schedule was even announced.
Canada is one of three co-host nations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, alongside the United States and Mexico. Between June 11 and July 19, 2026, Toronto and Vancouver are scheduled to host 13 of the tournament’s matches across the expanded 48-team format — the first time in the country’s history that it will host the global football showpiece. Overall international travel across all three host nations is projected to exceed 20 million visitors, making it one of the largest logistical undertakings in the history of sports tourism.
The economic stakes are considerable. According to FIFA projections, Canada alone is expected to generate approximately $3.8 billion in economic output from the tournament, including $2 billion in direct GDP gains. Canadian governments have budgeted an estimated $912 million to host the event, with the tournament projected to support around 24,100 jobs and contribute $700 million in government revenue. Yet that economic promise is now shadowed by a bureaucratic bottleneck that threatens to exclude thousands of would-be visitors before they ever book a flight.
The severity of the delays cannot be overstated. According to IRCC data as of December 2025, visitor visa processing times for applicants from several African nations — whose teams are scheduled to play their group-stage matches in Canada have stretched to alarming lengths. Ghana faces a processing wait of approximately 542 days. Ivory Coast applicants were looking at roughly 292 days, while Senegal stood at 203 days. For a tournament beginning June 11, 2026, those figures carry a devastating implication: a Ghanaian supporter would have needed to apply for a visa by December 2024 before FIFA had even published the match schedule.
Four African nations Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Senegal are slated to play their group-stage matches in Canada. For fans of those teams, the wait times represent not merely an inconvenience but a near-total barrier to attendance.
Immigration law expert Rick Lamanna, a partner at Fragomen, described the scale of the problem in clear terms: “Ivory Coast, right now, is listed at 292 days. Senegal, 203 days — this is to get a visitor visa to Canada. I’m very interested to see when these folks are able to come into Canada, if they have yet to apply for their visa. Because the schedule for the World Cup was only released in the beginning of December.”
Lamanna also noted that processing delays extend well beyond the World Cup-specific categories. “We saw massive jumps in certain application types. One, for example, was spousal sponsorship — those jumped almost double, in some cases tripled. Another one is work permit extensions. Those processing times are unfortunately accurate, and they’re over 200 calendar days,” he said.
IRCC’s own reporting through October 2025 showed that the smallest backlog on record that year was in June, when only 53 percent of temporary resident visa applications had missed their internal deadline for a decision — a figure that trended downward from January’s 71 percent before beginning to climb again, with projections suggesting it would reach 61 percent by year’s end.
Observers point to a combination of increased application volumes, heightened security screening, and staff reductions at IRCC as key factors slowing down the system. The agency’s decision to cut approximately 20 percent of its workforce part of a broader effort to return to pre-pandemic operational structures and reduce costs — has drawn particular scrutiny given the timing.
The agency’s effort to return to pre-pandemic operations while reducing costs and staff during a period of increased demand is raising questions about the potential for longer delays. Canada typically processes close to one million visas annually. The prospect of several million additional arrivals in a concentrated window between June and July 2026 presents what analysts describe as a significant operational stress test for a department already operating beyond sustainable capacity.
IRCC Minister Lena Metlege Diab, in an Ottawa news release on December 8, 2025, reminded prospective visitors plainly: “A match ticket isn’t a ticket into Canada.” The warning underscored a crucial point that FIFA has also reinforced possession of a World Cup ticket carries no guarantee of Canadian entry.
FIFA has stated in its official guidance that ticket holders who fail to obtain the necessary visa or travel authorization, or who are denied entry due to non-compliance with requirements, will not be entitled to any form of compensation from FIFA Ticketing.
Despite the difficulties, the Canada Border Services Agency has sought to project confidence in its readiness for the influx. In a statement, the CBSA outlined a broad inter-agency coordination framework covering security, border management, and operational planning.
“To address the expected large volume of travelers, the CBSA collaborates in advance with all event authorities regarding the admissibility requirements for travelers and goods entering Canada,” the agency said. “The CBSA is working closely with its Government of Canada partners, including the Department of Canadian Heritage (Sport Canada), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and Global Affairs Canada, as well as the host cities and FIFA, in the safety and security planning for this international event. We are also collaborating with border security partners in the United States and Mexico to coordinate our respective operational approaches.”
IRCC also set up a dedicated World Cup web portal providing step-by-step guidance on visitor visas, work permits for broadcast and logistics staff, and transit electronic travel authorizations for supporters connecting through Canadian hubs en route to United States or Mexican venues.
On February 2, 2026, Canada announced temporary border measures specifically for the World Cup, including tougher visa vetting, enhanced carrier liability, and extra CBSA staffing, with the stated goal of preventing a rise in asylum claims while still accommodating legitimate tournament visitors.
Officials also confirmed that Canada processed more than 173,000 asylum applications in 2024, and policymakers have expressed concern about a potential spike during the tournament period if travel rules remain unchanged.
The government also confirmed that a November 2025 public policy exempting certain FIFA-accredited workers from permit requirements remains in force until July 31, 2026, and that IRCC will continue granting short-term work permits to foreign technicians, broadcasters, and officials, subject to conditions requiring employers to demonstrate that no qualified Canadian is available and that positions are directly tied to FIFA-sanctioned events.
Beyond the staffing and processing challenges, Canadian authorities have raised concerns about the broader security implications of a tournament of this scale. Observers have flagged concerns including the vetting of applicants, the misrepresentation of Canadian visitor visas in FIFA-related travel scams, and a projected increase in fraudulent asylum claims.
Officials have emphasized that visitors overstaying their authorization could face future visa bans.
On the question of how IRCC intends to prioritize World Cup-related applications amid the broader backlog, Lamanna offered a measured assessment. “My guess is that they’ll try to sort through these applications for people who have identified as coming for the World Cup and will approve those. But again, there’s nothing online that says specifically that they’ll do that, and perhaps they’re doing it because they don’t want to have people trying to game the system with fraudulent proof of tickets,” he said.
The visa processing difficulties confronting Canada are not unprecedented in the context of major international sporting events. Host nations routinely face pressure to reconcile the logistical demands of global mass tourism with national immigration controls, security considerations, and institutional capacity. The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the 2022 edition in Qatar both prompted debates about visa access and the unequal treatment of fans from different regions — particularly those from Africa and the Global South, who frequently face stricter scrutiny and longer wait times regardless of the occasion.
What distinguishes the Canadian situation in 2026 is the confluence of a pre-existing institutional crisis within IRCC and the specific match-hosting arrangements that concentrate the impact on fans from African nations. That four of the nine African countries that have qualified for the tournament and whose teams will play specifically in Canada are precisely the nations facing the most severe processing delays has intensified calls for targeted intervention.
Travel experts have broadly urged prospective visitors to submit applications immediately, complete documentation accurately, and monitor IRCC’s published processing times closely to avoid last-minute disruptions.
Lamanna acknowledged the scale of the challenge, noting simply: “IRCC, I think, is doing what it can to try to alleviate some of these things.” Whether that effort will prove sufficient to ensure equitable access for the millions of football fans hoping to witness the world’s most-watched sporting event on Canadian soil remains to be seen.
