The United States 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.

The US Department of State said 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 a statement released by the State Department, President Trump’s administration is putting America and Americans first by realigning overseas operations to advance US priorities efficiently and effectively.

“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 statement read.

Other diplomatic posts affected by the routine visa realignment include 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.

The Department also noted that realigning visa services to hubs has already been successful with several African nations and in Europe.

Lagos, 19 other posts to continue services.

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.

The Department further stated that visa suspensions designated by Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements and immigrant visa pauses for certain nationalities remain in place.

The department, therefore, advised citizens and residents of the affected countries who wish to apply for a visa on or after August 1, 2026, to schedule an appointment and pay the required visa fee at the appropriate designated non-immigrant visa locations or immigrant visa locations.

The announcement is expected to impact thousands of Nigerian applicants who currently process US visas in Abuja, forcing them to travel to Lagos or other designated hubs on the continent.

Nigeria has one of the highest volumes of US visa applications in Africa, with the US Embassy in Abuja and Consulate in Lagos being the two main processing centres for Nigerian applicants. (Vanguard)

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