From August 1, 2026, the United States has reorganised its visa application centres across Africa, requiring applicants from 25 cities to travel to designated regional hubs for consular services.
This major restructuring affects numerous countries and regions, with key hubs now located in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Dakar, Kampala, Lagos, and others.
East Africa
- Applicants from Lilongwe, Malawi, will now apply in Nairobi, Kenya.
- Residents of Asmara (Eritrea), Juba (South Sudan), and Bujumbura (Burundi) must travel to Kampala, Uganda.
Southern Africa
- Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, have absorbed applicants from Botswana (Gaborone), Zimbabwe (Harare), Zambia (Lusaka), Mozambique (Maputo), Lesotho (Maseru), Eswatini (Mbabane), Namibia (Windhoek), and Durban (which consolidated its consular services into Johannesburg).
- Applicants from Antananarivo, Madagascar, must also travel to Johannesburg.
West Africa
- Dakar, Senegal, serves as the hub for applicants from Mali (Bamako), The Gambia (Banjul), Guinea (Conakry), and Mauritania (Nouakchott).
- Lomé, Togo, now handles applicants from Benin (Cotonou), Niger (Niamey), and Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou).
Central Africa and Others
- Yaoundé, Cameroon, covers applicants from Gabon (Libreville) and Chad (N'Djamena).
- Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, processes applications for residents of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
- Freetown, Sierra Leone, applicants are redirected to Monrovia, Liberia.
- Within Nigeria, visa processing has moved from Abuja to Lagos.
This consolidation aims to streamline US visa services but poses increased travel challenges, especially for applicants in landlocked countries who must cross borders to access these hubs.
