- The US Department of State announced it will stop routine visa processing at 25 African diplomatic posts starting August 1, 2026
- Applicants in affected countries, including Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Namibia, will be redirected to one of 20 designated regional hubs across Africa
- The State Department said the overhaul is aimed at strengthening national security and standardising visa screening across the continent
Legit.ng journalist, Ridwan Adeola Yusuf, has over 4 years of experience covering global affairs.
Washington, D.C., USA – The United States government will shut down routine visa processing at 25 diplomatic posts across Africa from Saturday, August 1, 2026, redirecting applicants to a network of 20 regional hubs under a major restructuring of America’s consular operations on the continent.
The U.S. Department of State confirmed the changes, describing the move as the most significant reorganisation of U.S. visa operations in Africa in recent years. The overhaul covers all routine visa categories, including tourist, business, employment, family-based and immigrant visas.
Source: Getty Images
Which African posts will stop processing visas?
Diplomatic posts that will cease routine processing include those 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.
Applicants from these countries will instead need to schedule their visa interviews at one of 20 designated hubs: 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.
Why is US making the change?
The State Department said concentrating visa processing into fewer locations would deliver “more uniform screening, vetting and adjudication standards” while cutting operational waste.
“President Trump is putting America and Americans first by strengthening national security, cutting government waste, and ensuring government works in the interests of the American people,” the department said in a statement.
The policy also keeps in place existing immigration restrictions introduced by the Trump administration, among them visa suspensions under Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements and pauses affecting certain immigrant visa categories.
Source: Getty Images
In June, Legit.ng reported that the Trump administration was weighing a plan to reduce the number of U.S. posts processing visas across Africa from 50 to 20, citing an internal State Department memo obtained by the Associated Press. The August 1 announcement confirms those plans.
The practical consequence for many African applicants is that obtaining a U.S. visa appointment from August 1 will require travel to a regional hub, in some cases across international borders, adding to both the cost and the logistics involved in the process.
The 25 U.S. diplomatic posts in Africa that will stop routine immigrant and non-immigrant visa processing from August 1 are:
- 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
- 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
- Windhoek, Namibia
Read more on visa applications
Canada halts new parent visa applications
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Canada indefinitely suspended new applications under its Parents and Grandparents Programme (PGP), citing the need to keep the country’s immigration system sustainable and properly managed.
IRCC, the federal department responsible for immigration and citizenship, confirmed the suspension in an official announcement. The notice stated that no new PGP applications would be accepted until further notice.
Source: Legit.ng
