US to Slash Visa Processing Embassies in Africa, Retain 20 Hubs

The United States Department of State is set to significantly overhaul its visa processing operations in Africa, consolidating services at 20 designated "hubs" across the continent. This major restructuring, expected to take effect in June, will reduce the number of embassies and consulates handling visa applications from nearly 50 to just 20, according to internal memos and U.S. officials cited by The Associated Press.

This move is reportedly part of the Trump administration's broader immigration agenda, which seeks to tighten visa issuance procedures and curb visa overstays. U.S. diplomats were briefed on the changes during a conference call last Friday. The directive, approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will scale back consular operations in countries not designated as hubs.

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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.

While consular sections in non-hub countries will remain operational, their functions will be restricted. They will primarily focus on assisting U.S. citizens with passport renewals, providing emergency consular support, handling special national interest cases, and processing diplomatic visas. The State Department stated that it continuously evaluates its overseas operations to efficiently deploy taxpayer resources and advance U.S. priorities, ensuring rigorous security screening and vetting for visa applicants.

The designated hubs include major cities such as Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, and Yaoundé, among others. This consolidation is anticipated to impose greater travel costs and logistical hurdles on applicants from countries not hosting a hub, requiring them to travel to these central locations for their visa processing. Visa services in Africa have already faced disruptions due to recent travel restrictions, new visa bond requirements, and health-related measures.

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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.