Thursday, July 30, 2026 - 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.
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