In a major diplomatic and consular policy shift, the U.S Department of State announced that it will end routine visa services at 25 diplomatic missions across African cities.
Beginning August 1, 2026, U.S routine visa services—including tourist, business, student, family-based, and immigrant visas—will be centralized into 20 designated regional cities across the African continent.
While U.S embassies and consulates in affected nations will remain open for diplomatic and emergency services, local applicants seeking standard visa interviews will now be required to travel to designated regional processing centers.
Under the new arrangement, routine immigrant and non-immigrant visa services will end at U.S. diplomatic posts in Antananarivo (Madagascar), Abuja (Nigeria), Asmara (Eritrea), Bamako (Mali), Banjul (The Gambia), Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo), Bujumbura (Burundi), Conakry (Guinea), Cotonou (Benin), Durban (South Africa).
Others are Freetown (Sierra Leone), Gaborone (Botswana), Harare (Zimbabwe), Juba (South Sudan), Libreville (Gabon), Lilongwe (Malawi), Lusaka (Zambia), Maputo (Mozambique), Maseru (Lesotho), Mbabane (Eswatini), N’Djamena (Chad), Niamey (Niger), Nouakchott (Mauritania), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and Windhoek (Namibia).
Instead, applicants will be directed to one of 20 designated regional visa hubs located in Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Nairobi, Port Louis, Praia and Yaoundé.
The State Department said the realignment is part of a long-standing effort to standardise visa adjudication while enhancing national security.
The statement reads: “The U.S. Department of State is realigning visa operations in Africa to regional hubs, part of a long-standing Department practice that strengthens national security by promoting more uniform screening, vetting, and adjudication standards, as well as improving efficiency. Realigning visa services to designated hubs has already been successful with several African nations, and in Europe as well.
“Effective August 1, 2026, the Department of State will realign routine visa services in Antananarivo, Abuja, Asmara, Bamako, Banjul, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Conakry, Cotonou, Durban, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Juba, Libreville, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Maputo, Maseru, Mbabane, N’Djamena, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, and Windhoek to a regional visa hub. Citizens and residents of these countries who wish to apply for a visa on or after August 1, 2026, must schedule an appointment and pay the required visa fee at the appropriate designated Nonimmigrant Visa Locations or designated Immigrant Visa Locations.
“Visa suspensions designated by Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements and immigrant visa pauses for certain nationalities remain in place.”
It added that concentrating visa operations into regional hubs would promote “more uniform screening, vetting and adjudication standards” while improving operational efficiency.
The overhaul follows weeks of speculation over Washington’s plans to streamline its diplomatic footprint in Africa.
This comes after reports emerged that the administration of U.S President Donald Trump was considering reducing the number of U.S. embassies and consulates processing visas across the continent from 50 to 20, citing an internal State Department memo obtained by the Associated Press.
The report warned that applicants in many African countries could be forced to travel abroad for visa interviews, increasing both the cost and logistical burden of obtaining a U.S. visa. The latest announcement confirms those plans, with routine visa services set to end at 25 diplomatic posts from August 1 while processing is consolidated into 20 regional hubs.
The changes cover all routine visa categories, including tourist, business, employment, family-based and immigrant visas, meaning applicants seeking new appointments from August 1 will have to schedule interviews at their designated regional hub.
The policy also leaves in place existing immigration restrictions introduced by the Trump administration, including visa suspensions under Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements and pauses affecting certain immigrant visa categories.
The overhaul is expected to reshape how thousands of Africans access U.S visa services, particularly applicants in countries that will no longer offer routine processing locally.
