The US Department of State has announced a major visa shake-up across Africa, with routine visa services at its embassy in Abuja and 24 other diplomatic posts set to be discontinued effective August 1, 2026.
A statement released by the State Department on Wednesday said that the realignment to regional hubs was part of efforts aimed at strengthening national security, cutting government waste, and ensuring more uniform screening, vetting, and adjudication standards.
According to the State Department , other diplomatic posts affected by the routine visa realignment includes Asmara, Bamako, Banjul, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Conakry, Cotonou, Durban, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Juba, Libreville, and Lilongwe.
The rest are Lusaka, Maputo, Maseru, Mbabane, N’Djamena, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, and Windhoek.
The State Department stressed that the realignment does not change the operating status of any of the embassies and consulates or the important work they continue to conduct on behalf of the American people.
It also clarified that the policy does not affect any currently valid US visas.
It explained that the immigrant visa categories being realigned include immediate relative, IR; family preference, FP; employment-based, EB; fiancée/fiancé, K visas; adoptions; diversity visas; and follow-to-join asylee and refugee, V92/V93, cases.
However, routine visa services, according to the State Department, will continue at US embassies and consulates in Lagos, 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.
The services to be provided at the hub locations include all routine nonimmigrant visas – tourist, business, and petition-based – as well as immigrant visas.
