Africans seeking to travel to the United States face a dramatically narrower path to obtaining visas, after Washington moved to concentrate processing across the continent into just a handful of diplomatic posts.
The U.S. State Department plans to reduce the nearly 50 embassies and consulates across Africa currently processing visa applications to just 20, a change expected to take effect within weeks, according to three U.S. officials and an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. The officials, who were not authorised to speak to the media, said no firm date had been set but that June was the expected timeline.
Under the new arrangement, citizens of countries not served by one of the 20 designated hubs will be required to travel to an approved site to submit their applications — a prospect that could impose formidable costs and logistical burdens on ordinary applicants. Consular sections in non-hub countries will not shut down entirely, but will be limited in scope, handling passport renewals and emergency consular services for American citizens, as well as special national interest cases and diplomatic visa applications.
The 20 hubs designated to handle full visa processing are: Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Accra, Ghana; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa; Dakar, Senegal; Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania; Djibouti; Kampala, Uganda; Kigali, Rwanda; Kinshasa, Congo; Lagos, Nigeria; Lomé, Togo; Luanda, Angola; Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; Port Louis, Mauritius; Praia, Cape Verde; and Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The move forms part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to curtail both immigrant and non-immigrant visas, targeting those who travel on temporary visas and overstay them. The administration has also scaled back staffing at embassies and consulates worldwide. The State Department, while declining to address the specifics of the memo, said it “is constantly evaluating its overseas operations in order to deploy taxpayer resources in a way that advances America’s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible,” adding that this “includes a visa process that maintains rigorous standards of security screening and vetting.”
The consolidation is the latest in a series of moves tightening America’s immigration posture toward the African continent. In January 2026, the State Department imposed an indefinite pause on visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, including several African states, directing consular officers to refuse visas while it reassessed screening and vetting procedures. Visa processing in Africa has also been affected by a travel ban on certain countries, a requirement for applicants to post bonds of up to $15,000 to apply, and more recently by restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak.
President Donald Trump, who has made restrictive immigration and border policies a cornerstone of his political agenda for over a decade, has previously drawn sharp criticism over remarks attributed to him during his first term, in which he reportedly referred to immigrants from parts of Africa and Haiti as coming from “shithole” countries. Earlier this year, his administration was also reported to be considering closing around 30 embassies and consulates globally, with several African nations — including the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Lesotho, and South Sudan — among those proposed for closure.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah