U.S Announces 20 African Visa Processing Centres, Excludes Abuja

The United States government has revealed the 20 African cities that will retain full visa processing capability as the Trump administration moves to drastically cut its consular footprint across the continent from approximately 50 locations to just 20 designated hubs.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved the directive last week, according to the Associated Press, citing senior U.S. officials and an internal State Department memo. The changes are expected to take effect in June, though no formal implementation date has been announced.

The 20 cities are Lagos, Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Nairobi, Port Louis, Praia and Yaoundé.

Notably absent from the list is Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, which currently hosts a fully functioning U.S. Embassy and processes a significant volume of visa applications annually. Lagos remains the only Nigerian city on the list.

Citizens of African countries not represented on the list will be required to travel to a designated hub in another country to process their U.S. visa applications, a requirement that will place additional financial and logistical burdens on applicants who already face long waiting times and high costs.

Consular services will continue in non-hub countries for U.S. citizens seeking passport renewals, emergency assistance, diplomatic visa applications and special national interest cases.

The State Department said the decision was part of a continuous review aimed at deploying resources in alignment with American national interests and maintaining rigorous security screening standards.

The move is part of a broader Trump administration push to tighten immigration procedures globally, with U.S. diplomats also briefed last Friday on planned reductions in personnel at embassies and consulates worldwide.