U.S. consolidates African visa processing to 20 regional hubs

The Trump administration plans to slash U.S. visa services across Africa, cutting the number of consular missions that can process applications from roughly 50 to 20. The remaining hubs will be located in cities such as Dakar, Lagos, Abidjan, Accra, Addis‑Ababa, Nairobi, Johannesburg and others, covering West, Central, East and Southern Africa. Non‑hub embassies and consulates will stay open but will limit their work to assisting U.S. citizens, emergency assistance and a narrow set of diplomatic or “national‑interest” visas.

Applicants from countries excluded from the hub list – for example Guinea – will have to travel to a designated hub, incurring full travel costs and meeting a financial‑guarantee requirement that can reach $15,000. Eleven African nations already have all immigrant and non‑immigrant visas suspended, and the policy follows broader efforts to tighten U.S. immigration controls, including recent lawsuits over the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Somali nationals and emergency entry restrictions linked to an Ebola outbreak.

The State Department cited budget efficiency and security priorities for the restructuring, while critics see it as a cost‑intensive deterrent aimed at reducing visa overstays and overall immigration from the continent.