US to centralise African visa processing in shift to regional hubs
The United States plans to reduce the number of African locations handling visa applications from approximately 50 to 20, moving routine interviews to regional centres such as Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Dakar.
An internal US Department of State memo, cited in reports by Al Jazeera, outlines a plan to centralise visa processing across the African continent. The proposal seeks to reduce the number of embassies and consulates handling applications from roughly 50 locations to approximately 20. Under the new structure, routine visa interviews would be moved out of many individual posts and concentrated in smaller regional hubs, with cities including Nairobi, Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Accra, and Dakar expected to take on larger roles.
The State Department has not publicly provided a detailed explanation for the proposal, though officials cited in US media suggest the changes could take effect in the coming weeks. While legal criteria for approval remain unchanged, the consolidation requires applicants in affected countries to travel abroad to complete their visa interviews. Most embassies will stop handling routine visa interviews but will remain open to continue other diplomatic and consular functions, including political engagement and security cooperation.
Visa policy experts and former consular officials indicate that such reforms are often associated with efforts to standardise decision-making, strengthen oversight, and address staffing pressures across overstretched embassies. Consolidating applications could allow resources to be deployed more efficiently, addressing significant workload constraints that consular sections have faced in recent years. The move aligns with a broader Trump administration strategy focusing on security, efficiency, and reduced administrative costs.
Analysts note that the proposal is consistent with the administration’s second-term foreign policy posture, which prioritises transactional, security-first relationships over multilateral engagement. Aaliyah Vayez, an international relations analyst based in South Africa, described the consolidation as a reflection of a systematic deprioritisation of multilateral engagement. She warned that the move signals an eroding US leadership in Africa and could serve as a deterrent due to increased costs associated with travel to consulates.
US State Department data indicates that more than 540,000 non-immigrant visas were issued to applicants in Africa in fiscal year 2024. Experts warn that higher travel costs and logistical hurdles may deter applicants, particularly students and small-business owners. While approval rates may remain unchanged, the overall number of applications submitted from some countries could decline as practical barriers to access increase.
