US to cut African visa processing to 20 embassy hubs

The US State Department is preparing to sharply reduce visa processing across Africa, according to reporting confirmed by the Associated Press and outlets including Euronews.

Under a directive approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, full consular visa work would be concentrated in 20 regional hubs. Posts that lose routine visa processing would still handle US citizen services, emergencies, diplomatic visas, and some national-interest cases.

There is no fixed start date yet, but officials quoted in the reporting expect the shift in June 2026.

What is changing

• From ~50 to 20: Roughly 50 US embassies and consulates in Africa currently process visas. That would drop to 20 hubs in the coming weeks.
• Travel for interviews: Applicants in countries without a hub would need to travel to an approved post for standard immigrant and nonimmigrant visa processing.
• Posts stay open, but narrower: Consular sections in non-hub countries are expected to remain open for passports, emergencies, and limited visa categories, not routine public visa queues.
• Broader US tightening: The move sits inside wider Trump-era visa limits, including country travel bans, higher screening, and in some cases large visa bonds (reported up to about $15,000). Ebola-related restrictions have also disrupted some Africa travel lanes.

The 20 hubs reported to stay open for full processing

Reporting based on an internal State Department memo lists these locations. They are not in one country. The 20 hubs sit across about 19 African countries (South Africa has two posts):

• Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
• Accra (Ghana)
• Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
• Cape Town (South Africa)
• Dakar (Senegal)
• Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
• Djibouti (Djibouti)
• Johannesburg (South Africa)
• Kampala (Uganda)
• Kigali (Rwanda)
• Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
• Lagos (Nigeria)
• Lomé (Togo)
• Luanda (Angola)
• Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)
• Monrovia (Liberia)
• Nairobi (Kenya)
• Port Louis (Mauritius)
• Praia (Cape Verde)
• Yaoundé (Cameroon)

If you are planning an application, check the live post page on travel.state.gov before you book flights. Hub lists can change when formal notices publish.

Who feels this first

The impact is largest for African nationals who must already cross borders for US visa appointments.

It also affects employers, students, and family sponsors timing interviews around school terms, wedding dates, or job start dates.

Americans and third-country nationals applying from Africa face the same hub logic if their local post stops routine processing.

This is separate from the recent in-country green card adjustment tightening we covered in USCIS pushes most green cards back to consular processing abroad. That file is about where many US-based applicants finish permanent residence. This update is about which embassies in Africa can run visa casework at all.

Washington has not yet posted a standalone public factsheet matching every detail in the leaked memo. State spokespeople quoted in follow-up reporting describe ongoing reviews of consular operations and security screening, without confirming every hub name on the record.

Official reporting source: PBS NewsHour (Associated Press). Cross-check embassy instructions at US Visas (State Department).

News summary only, not legal advice. Embassy operations change quickly. Confirm your post's current services before you pay for travel or document prep.