US to discontinue visa services in Abuja and 24 other African cities

The United States will discontinue routine visa services at its embassy in Abuja from August 1, 2026, as part of a wider restructuring affecting 25 diplomatic missions across Africa.

The US Department of State said the move is aimed at strengthening national security, reducing government spending and ensuring more consistent screening, vetting and visa processing standards through regional visa hubs. According to the department, the realignment is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to prioritise US national interests while maintaining rigorous security checks for visa applicants.

“The Department of State is constantly evaluating its overseas operations in order to advance America’s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible. 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.

“The Trump administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans, and the State Department will continue to provide Americans with appropriate consular services and assistance at diplomatic posts around the world.”

The affected diplomatic posts include Abuja, as well as embassies in Asmara, Bamako, Banjul, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Conakry, Cotonou, Durban, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Juba, Libreville, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Maputo, Maseru, Mbabane, N’Djamena, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou and Windhoek.

The State Department clarified that the affected embassies and consulates will remain operational and continue carrying out their regular diplomatic and consular responsibilities. It also stressed that the changes will not affect visas that are already valid.

The restructuring covers immigrant visa categories including immediate relatives (IR), family preference (FP), employment-based (EB), fiancé(e) (K) visas, adoption visas, diversity visas and follow-to-join asylee and refugee (V92/V93) cases.

Routine visa services will continue at designated hub locations, including 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.

These hubs will process both routine non-immigrant visas, such as tourist, business and petition-based visas, as well as immigrant visas. The department also noted that existing visa suspensions under Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements and immigrant visa pauses affecting certain nationalities remain unchanged.

Applicants from countries affected by the new policy who wish to apply for a US visa from August 1, 2026, have been advised to schedule appointments and pay the required fees at the designated regional visa processing hubs. For Nigerians, the change means applicants who previously used the US Embassy in Abuja for routine visa processing will now have to apply through the US Consulate in Lagos or another designated regional hub.