World Cup Accredited Journalists Raise Alarm Over US Visa Denial

<h4>World Cup Accredited Journalists Raise Alarm Over US Visa Denial<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that with only a few days to the kicks off of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico&comma; USA and Canada&comma; International Sports Press Association&comma; AIPS&comma; finds it unacceptable that many of its members&comma; who have been duly accredited by FIFA to cover the tournament&comma; are facing varying degrees of US visa challenges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>AIPS is calling on FIFA to intervene and ensure that the affected media representatives are not wrongfully denied entry into the USA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Friday &lpar;June 5&rpar;&comma; the AIPS President Gianni Merlo&comma; on behalf of the AIPS Executive Committee&comma; sent the letter below to Bryan Swanson&comma; the FIFA Director of Media Relations&comma; and Jochen Steinhoff&comma; the FIFA Head of Media Operations &amp&semi; Services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>THE LETTER<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>In this difficult time for the entire world&comma; on the eve of the futuristic 2026 FIFA World Cup&comma; we find ourselves facing a long-standing and unacceptable problem for us journalists&colon; the denial of entry visas to regularly accredited colleagues&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>There are many cases&colon; Iranian colleagues&comma; African colleagues&comma; some of whom have been given single entries&comma; so if their team goes to play in Canada or <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Mexico<&sol;a> and they follow it&comma; they can no longer return to the States&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The cases are countless and&comma; I repeat&comma; unacceptable&period; Politicians always say that sport unites and builds bridges between young people in countries in conflict&comma; but in this case&comma; we are going in the opposite direction&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>We believe it is important to allow colleagues to attend the event and work&comma; because their presence will be crucial to the image of sport and what it represents&comma; especially in a country like the United States of America&comma; where freedom of the press is a must&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>I hope FIFA can do everything possible to secure visas&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re already significantly behind schedule&comma; and many colleagues have already lost the opportunity to use plane tickets booked on time&comma; and they&&num;8217&semi;ll also face significant additional expenses&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Thank you for your attention&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Gianni Merlo <&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>AIPS President<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;