US to Slashing Visa Processing Sites in Africa to Just 20 Hubs

​WASHINGTON D.C. — In a sweeping policy shift expected to fundamentally disrupt travel logistics across Africa, the United States State Department is drastically cutting the number of its diplomatic missions on the continent authorized to conduct visa interviews and process applications.

​According to an internal State Department memo obtained by the media and confirmed by multiple U.S. officials, the current network of nearly 50 visa-processing embassies and consulates will be aggressively consolidated into just 20 regional “hubs” in the coming weeks. The directive is expected to fully take effect by mid-June.

​The strategy was formally approved last week by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and communicated directly to consular chiefs during an emergency conference call on Friday, May 29. 

​Part of a Broader Immigration Crackdown

​The sudden consolidation is not merely an administrative shuffle but a core pillar of the Trump administration’s intensified global immigration crackdown. The White House aims to sharply curb the issuance of both immigrant and non-immigrant visas while directly targeting temporary visa overstays.

​This restructuring coincides with a global scale-back of American diplomatic personnel and follows a series of recent hurdles for African travelers, including a localized travel ban, mandatory visa bonds of up to $15,000 for certain B1/B2 applicants, and recent travel bottlenecks linked to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

​The Last 20 Standing: The New Consular Map

​Under the new regionalized hub system, all standard visa processing will be permanently restricted to the following 20 locations:

1.West Africa: Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Lomé (Togo), Monrovia (Liberia), and Praia (Cape Verde).

2.East Africa: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Djibouti (Djibouti), Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda), and Nairobi (Kenya).

3.Southern Africa: Cape Town and Johannesburg (South Africa), Luanda (Angola), and Port Louis (Mauritius).

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4.Central Africa: Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), and Yaoundé (Cameroon).

​What this means for travelers: Citizens and residents of “non-hub” nations—such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Senegal’s neighbors, or any of the nearly 35 affected countries—will now face the formidable financial and logistical burden of flying across international borders just to attend a mandatory U.S. visa interview.

​Impact on Non-Hub Embassies

​While the State Department maintains that embassies losing their visa powers will not close completely, their operations will be tightly constrained. Consular staff in non-hub countries will pivot strictly to:

• ​Assisting American citizens with passport renewals and emergency services.

• ​Handling high-level diplomatic and official visa applications.

• ​Reviewing exceptional, pre-approved “national interest” cases.

​Defending the decision, the State Department issued a statement clarifying that it continuously evaluates its overseas infrastructure to deploy taxpayer resources efficiently while “maintaining rigorous standards of security screening and vetting” aligned with America’s national interests.

​For ordinary African travelers, business professionals, and students, however, the immediate future holds longer wait times, soaring travel costs, and an incredibly narrow corridor to the United States.