Are you allowed to enter?
Portal: Thousands of sex workers from Europe want to go to the World Cup
June 12, 2026 – 1:02 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
In an industry survey, many indicated interest in attending the World Cup. But even those who just want to watch football could be turned away.
According to a survey of sex workers in Great Britain and Germany, several hundred participants said they wanted to travel to the USA for the World Cup. The survey was carried out by the erotic portal Erobella. 634 in Great Britain said they wanted to go to the USA, and 1,585 were considering it. In Germany there were 515 respondents who want to go to the World Cup, and 1,289 are thinking about it. In both countries they made up two and five percent of respondents respectively.
If you extrapolate the numbers to the estimated number of sex workers in Germany, 1,834 women and men from the industry would get on a plane from Germany alone, according to the platform’s projection. Converted to Europe, this would result in a number of 9,000 sex workers. It was not mentioned whether the respondents wanted to watch the games or do their job – the latter would probably be illegal without a work permit.
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US authorities ask about activity
However, the trip is likely to end at the border, at least to the USA. Under U.S. immigration law, anyone who has engaged in prostitution in the past 10 years can be denied entry — even if the activity was completely legal where it was practiced and even without any intention of working in the country. The regulation is in Section 1182(a)(2)(D); According to those affected, the suspicion of a border officer can be enough.
In an interview with Erobella, Canadian escort Lucy Huxley described how she was pulled into second checks, questioned for hours and her cell phone and luggage were searched before she was deported and banned from entering the country. Canadian erotic performer Milo Miles says he was held by US border officials for more than eight hours before being given a 10-year ban.
Huxley told the portal that authorities rely on tools such as escort directories, arrest records and facial recognition to flag suspected sex workers — and proof is not necessary, just suspicion.