WASHINGTON, United States (MNTV) – The U.S. State Department is preparing to significantly scale back its visa processing footprint across Africa, concentrating services into just 20 designated hubs and eliminating visa processing capacity at most existing embassies and consulates on the continent.
According to internal planning materials reported by AP News, the number of African posts authorised to process visas would drop from nearly 50 to 20 within weeks — one of the most extensive restructurings of U.S. consular operations in Africa in years. While no final implementation date has been publicly confirmed, officials indicate the changes are expected to take effect in June.
The policy shift is being implemented under the Trump administration’s broader immigration agenda, which has prioritised tighter visa controls, increased vetting standards, and a reduction in both immigration and temporary entry pathways. The restructuring is presented as an efficiency measure, but it carries significant practical consequences for mobility between Africa and the U.S.
Under directives approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, consular operations will be consolidated into 20 regional centres. Citizens from countries without a designated hub will be required to travel internationally to apply for visas, adding financial burden and logistical barriers — and in some cases rendering access near-impossible for applicants in remote or poorly connected regions.
Diplomatic staff were reportedly informed of the plan during a conference call, where consular officials were told that visa services across much of Africa would be sharply reduced. Embassies outside the selected hubs will remain open for limited functions such as emergency assistance and passport services, but their role in facilitating legal travel to the U.S. will be drastically diminished.
The administration frames the decision as part of a broader effort to strengthen security screening and align consular resources with national interests, arguing that concentrating operations will improve oversight and reduce visa overstays. Immigration policy specialists, however, argue that the practical effect is a structural narrowing of legal migration pathways — one that shifts the burden of access onto applicants rather than addressing systemic demand.
The remaining visa hubs span major diplomatic posts across the continent, including Nairobi, Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra, Addis Ababa, and Dakar, effectively transforming a dispersed consular network into a centralised system anchored in a limited number of regional capitals.
The longer-term diplomatic consequences of reducing America’s on-the-ground presence in visa services across Africa remain an open question — one that analysts say the administration has yet to address publicly.