By Samuel Akpan
The United States says it will halt routine visa processing at its Abuja embassy and 24 other African diplomatic missions from August 1, 2026, shifting operations to regional hubs for tighter security and efficiency.
“The Department of State is constantly evaluating its overseas operations in order to advance America’s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible. This includes a visa process that maintains rigorous standards of security screening and vetting and aligns resources and operational capacity with America’s national interests,” the State Department declared in its official statement.
Officials framed the move as the Trump administration putting America and Americans first by realigning overseas operations to advance US priorities efficiently and effectively.
“The Trump administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans, and the State Department will continue to provide Americans with appropriate consular services and assistance at diplomatic posts around the world,” the statement added.
The realignment targets posts in 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, alongside Abuja.
It forms part of efforts to strengthen national security, cut government waste and enforce more uniform screening, vetting and adjudication standards.
Embassy and consulate operating status remains unchanged, as does the important work they conduct on behalf of the American people.
Currently valid US visas are unaffected by the shift.
Immigrant visa categories moving to the hubs cover immediate relative (IR), family preference (FP), employment-based (EB), fiancé/fiancée (K) visas, adoptions, diversity visas and follow-to-join asylee and refugee (V92/V93) cases.
The department noted that consolidating visa services into hubs has already succeeded with several African nations and across Europe.
Routine services will continue uninterrupted at Lagos and 19 other locations: Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar-Es-Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lome, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Nairobi, Port Louis, Praia and Yaoundé. These hubs will handle all routine nonimmigrant visas—tourist, business and petition-based—plus immigrant visas.
Visa suspensions under Presidential Proclamation 10998, bond requirements and immigrant visa pauses for certain nationalities stay fully in force.
Citizens and residents of affected countries seeking visas on or after August 1, 2026, must schedule appointments and pay fees at the designated nonimmigrant or immigrant visa hubs.
Nigeria, which records one of Africa’s highest volumes of US visa applications, will feel the change acutely.
Thousands of applicants who previously processed cases in Abuja must now travel to Lagos or other continental hubs, as the capital’s embassy and Lagos consulate have long served as the country’s primary centres.
The 20 designated US regional visa hubs in Africa are:
– Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
– Accra (Ghana)
– Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
– Cape Town (South Africa)
– Dakar (Senegal)
– Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania)
– Djibouti (Djibouti)
– Johannesburg (South Africa)
– Kampala (Uganda)
– Kigali (Rwanda)
– Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
– Lagos (Nigeria)
– Lome (Togo)
– Luanda (Angola)
– Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)
– Monrovia (Liberia)
– Nairobi (Kenya)
– Port Louis (Mauritius)
– Praia (Cabo Verde)
– Yaoundé (Cameroon)
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