Effective August 1, 2026, the US Department of State (DOS) realigned routine US visa services across Africa to regional visa hubs. This change affects all routine visa services for both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, including tourist visas.
What locations are affected?
The locations impacted include:
- Antananarivo, Madagascar
- Abuja, Nigeria
- Asmara, Eritrea
- Bamako, Mali
- Banjul, Gambia
- Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
- Bujumbura, Burundi
- Conakry, Guinea
- Cotonou, Benin
- Durban, South Africa
- Freetown, Sierra Leone
- Gaborone, Botswana
- Harare, Zimbabwe
- Juba, South Sudan
- Libreville, Gabon
- Lilongwe, Malawi
- Lusaka, Zambia
- Maputo, Mozambique
- Maseru, Lesotho
- Mbabane, Swaziland
- N’Djamena, Chad
- Niamey, Niger
- Nouakchott, Mauritania
- Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Windhoek, Namibia
How does this impact visa appointments?
Citizens and residents of these countries who wish to apply for a visa after August 1, 2026, must schedule an appointment and pay the required visa fee, also known as the MRV fee, at the appropriate designated nonimmigrant visa locations or designated immigrant visa locations. If you have an appointment scheduled at a post where routine visa services are being discontinued, you should receive an email with specific guidance. Additionally, if you paid the MRV fee to a discontinued post and did not have a scheduled appointment by July 31, 2026, you will not receive a refund of the fee.
Where will U.S. visa services in Africa continue to be offered?
Routine visa services will be provided at the U.S. Embassies and Consulates in the following locations:
- Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
- 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, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Lomé, Togo
- Luanda, Angola
- Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
- Monrovia, Liberia
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Port Louis, Mauritius
- Praia, Cape Verde
- Yaoundé, Cameroon
For additional details, please refer to the official DOS announcement. Not all consular posts offer both immigrant and nonimmigrant visa services. Please refer to the official DOS lists for current information on which posts provide immigrant visa services and nonimmigrant visa services.
