In a sweeping policy shift aligned with a broader agenda of cutting immigration to the United States, the U.S. State Department is set to dramatically reduce the number of African diplomatic missions that can process visa applications for people seeking entry to the country, three anonymous U.S. officials and an internal department memo obtained by the Associated Press have confirmed.
Right now, roughly 50 U.S. embassies and consulates across the African continent process incoming visa applications. That number will drop to just 20 regional processing hubs in the coming weeks, with the transition expected to take place in June, though no official final date has been announced. The restructuring was announced during a conference call last Friday attended by senior U.S. diplomatic staff, including regional consular leaders, who were informed of the continent-wide scaling back of visa services.
The overhaul comes following a directive signed off last week by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and builds on long-running efforts to restrict both immigrant and non-immigrant visa issuance. The policy priority stems from a broader goal to limit overall immigration to the U.S. and crack down on visitors who overstay the terms of their temporary visas. This cut to African visa processing capacity also follows a broader drawdown of diplomatic staffing at U.S. missions around the globe in recent years.
African visa processing has already faced major disruptions in recent years: existing barriers include a U.S. travel ban targeting multiple African nations, a requirement that some applicants post cash bonds of up to $15,000 to be considered for a visa, and recent service restrictions tied to regional Ebola outbreaks.
Under the new structure, all full visa processing will be consolidated into the 20 designated hub locations: Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Cape Town (South Africa), Dakar (Senegal), Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania), Djibouti (Djibouti), Johannesburg (South Africa), Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda), Kinshasa (Congo), Lagos (Nigeria), Lome (Togo), Luanda (Angola), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Monrovia (Liberia), Nairobi (Kenya), Port Louis (Mauritius), Praia (Cape Verde), and Yaounde (Cameroon).
For citizens of African countries that do not host a designated processing hub, the new rules mean they will need to travel to one of the 20 hub locations to submit their applications and complete required in-person consular screenings. This requirement creates significant practical barriers, adding heavy travel costs and logistical hurdles that did not exist previously for many applicants.
Consular offices at non-hub missions will remain open, but their service offerings will be severely limited. They will still be able to support U.S. citizens with passport renewals and emergency assistance, process special visa requests tied to U.S. national interests, and handle diplomatic visa applications.
When reached for comment, the State Department did not address specific details laid out in the internal memo, but issued a general statement defending the restructuring. The department noted that it “is constantly evaluating its overseas operations in order to deploy taxpayer resources in a way that advances America’s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible.” It added that the overhaul “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 report was filed by correspondent Mednick from Tel Aviv.