The United States has announced a significant overhaul of its visa operations across Africa, with routine visa services at its embassy in Abuja and 24 other diplomatic missions to end from August 1, 2026.
The US Department of State said the move, which shifts routine visa processing to regional hubs, is designed to strengthen national security, reduce government spending, and ensure more consistent screening, vetting, and adjudication procedures.
In a statement, the State Department said President Donald Trump’s administration is restructuring overseas operations to better serve US priorities.
> “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 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 affected diplomatic missions include 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.
The State Department emphasized that the changes do not alter the operational status of the affected embassies and consulates, nor do they affect the services they continue to provide on behalf of the United States.
It also clarified that all currently valid US visas remain unaffected.
According to the department, the realignment covers immigrant visa categories including immediate relative (IR), family preference (FP), employment-based (EB), fiancé(e) (K) visas, adoptions, diversity visas, and follow-to-join asylee and refugee (V92/V93) cases.
The department added that similar regional hub arrangements have already been implemented successfully in several African countries and parts of Europe.
Routine visa services will continue at US embassies and consulates in Lagos, Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Nairobi, Port Louis, Praia, and Yaoundé.
These hub locations will process all routine nonimmigrant visas, including tourist, business, and petition-based visas, as well as immigrant visas.
The State Department also noted that visa suspensions under Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements, and immigrant visa pauses for certain nationalities remain in effect.
It advised citizens and residents of the affected countries seeking US visas from August 1, 2026, onward to book appointments and pay the required fees at the designated immigrant or nonimmigrant visa processing hubs.
The decision is expected to affect thousands of Nigerian applicants who currently use the US Embassy in Abuja for visa processing, requiring many to travel to Lagos or other designated regional hubs.
Nigeria remains one of Africa’s largest sources of US visa applications, with the US Embassy in Abuja and the US Consulate in Lagos serving as the country’s primary visa processing centres.
