The United States will end routine visa processing at 25 diplomatic posts across Africa from August 1, consolidating operations into 20 regional hubs as part of a sweeping overhaul aimed at strengthening security screening and streamlining consular services.
The move, announced by the U.S. Department of State, marks one of the most significant restructurings of America's visa operations on the continent in recent years, affecting applicants in more than two dozen African countries.
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.
